Three Months, Seven Days
by Black Lumina Enchantress
Summary: StokeleyZeke...Stokes and Stan are over and Stokely has become insanely attracted to Zeke! Things are really heating up, when Stokely has a baaad feeling about something... unfinished, sorry everybody
1. The Begining

Disclaimer- I hate these thingies, I wish I owned everyone! But I don't, oh well. Life goes on.

**Chapter 1**

Tuesday...

"Hey Case, you seen Stan?"

"Nope. Sorry Stokes."

Stokely sat down on the bleachers, next to Casey. She opened up her back to take out a book and a pack of cigarettes, which she placed beside her as she opened her book. She leaned back and propped up her booted feet next to Casey. He looked down and noticed them.

"Hey, I though you stopped wearing black."

"Yea, well the pastels didn't really work out so hot for me."

"And you cut your hair?"

She lifted a hand to touch the fuzzy tips of her freshly cut hair. She had let it grow out before. Bad idea. Now it was back to normal.

"Yea." She answered, sounding a bit irritated.

"Does Stan know?"

"Stan can kiss my ass for all I fucking care."

"Woa. Problem?"

"Stan's a dick head, that's the problem."

"What happened?"

"I saw him hitting on one of Delilah's bitchy cheerleader clones."

"And?"

She shrugged. "And I asked him about. He said I was 'over reacting.' But then he said it wasn't working out with us anyway." Closing her book, she swapped it for a cigarette, and lit it.

"Ouch. What did you say to that?"

"I called him a mindless, dickless, fuck wit, ad hung up." She puffed on her cigarette, and looked up. "I was being nice!" She replied after seeing the look on Casey's face.

"That's what you call nice?"

"Yes."

Casey scoffed at her answer. "Have you always been this way?" He asked sipping his juice.

"You don't even want to know, Casey, trust me."

The bell rang, and Casey stood up.

"Are you coming to class?"

"No. I'll stay here."

"By yourself?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

"Okay." He turned around. "Hey, Zeke's coming."

"Guess I won't be by myself then." She said watching Zeke walk through the field. "See you later."

"Bye."

Stokely watched Casey slowly make his way down the bleachers, and ackowledge Zeke. Then she turned away, not seeing Zeke walked up towards her.

"Stokley," he said, pronouncing each syllable of her name, sitting a step above her. "I hear Stan is dating Jessica Marshelle, now. What's the story?"

She looked up, looking slightly pissed off, but amazingly calm at the same time.

"Have you got an hour?" she asked quietly.

Zeke laughed. "As a matter of fact, two. As long as Tate and Furlong still work here."

"Fantastic" she said dryly.

"But I demand cigarettes." He said, leaning over, and plucking one from the pack.

She threw a lighter at him. "You're buying next time."

**How do you like it so far guys? Read and review please!**


	2. Maybe

Disclaimer: Same thing, blah, blah, blahh.

**Chapter 2 **

Friday...

"Can I ask you something Casey?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Stokely shot him a 'What do you think?' look.

Casey sighed and closed his locker. "What is it?" They slowly walked out down the halls of Harrington High School. It was lunchtime again.

"Whatever happened with you and bitch face?"

He cast his eyes downward. "Uhhh… you mean Delilah?"

"No shit."

"Um, I don't really remember. It happened sorta fast."

"Oh." He was a bad liar. But still, she was sort of disappointed. She wanted to know. So she just looked down.

It was quiet for a while, as they looked for a table.

"Actually,"

She looked up at him almost immediately when he spoke. Then he stopped. "Do you want to go to the field?" he asked.

She thought, and nodded. Maybe she could get Casey to open up to her. He was surprisingly mysterious all the time. But why would he? It's not like she'd open up to him. Maybe they were more alike in more ways then she thought.

They walked in silence the whole way through the field, and as they climbed up to the very top of the bleachers, and took their seats. Stokely, lying down, her knees raised in the air, her head resting against the cold metal. Casey, a step below her, sitting straight up, looking tense. This was where Stokely noticed a difference.

Lately, she felt looser, more laid back. Whereas Casey still acted like there was somebody was following him all the time. Breathing down his neck, watching his every move. Maybe someone was. Someone that only existed to Casey. Stokely's thoughts were real deep today.

But enough of that, she'd waited this long. They hadn't spoken a word the whole way there.

"So." she began. "Would you care to share? You're a bad liar."

"I remember… it was a Friday night. I was going to meet her at her house."

"You slime." She said sarcastically, adding a grin. Casey didn't realize until he saw her expression.

"Anyways," he replied, a hint of laughter in his voice. "I thought I'd surprise her, so I went in through the back door. Which she always kept unlocked. So I went in, went up stairs, and I saw with… some guy."

"Maybe that's why she kept the door unlocked." Casey scoffed, and she thought she saw him smile. "But what a bitch. I always thought it, but this just confirms it."

Casey turned to her. "Delilah wasn't as bas as you thought, Stokely."

"Thought?"

"Think." He corrected. "She was so different when I was with her. She even blew of some her friends to be with me."

"Seriously?"

Yes." He actually sounded irritated. Maybe he was opened. Slowly, but surely.

"Ok, so what happened next?"

He seemed to be struggling to remember. "I just, sort of… freaked out."

"In front of her?"

"No. No, I just left. And went home. I didn't know what was going on."

"That's why you should never fall in love. You can never trust anyone. It's better to just not love at all. I mean, this is where you end up, after all." She surprised herself. She sounded like she'd gone by this rule her whole life. Maybe she should. She cleared her throat. "So, um, anyway?"

There was something wrong with her today. She wasn't normally like this. This wasn't Stokely.

Casey continued. "I talked to her the next day. She said, she was sorry, and she didn't mean to sneak around. But that there was something missing between us. And she was planning on breaking up with me anyway."

She couldn't take this anymore. She propped herself up by her elbows and looked at her. "So that's how she told you? If that doesn't say slutty bitch, I don't know what does, Case."

"Oh my God, Stokely, just shut-up. You wanted to know. Just leave me alone."

She looked at him. _Really_ looked at him, studying his eyes. He was so innocent sometimes. But he had been so hurt. Maybe he really had cared about Delilah. For a moment, she might have felt what he felt. And she almost understood.

Almost.

"Just look around Casey," she said quietly. "Delilah's not worth it. Ever." She spoke louder, to make sure he knew she was serious. "Just remember what I said. Like it or not, it's true."

Maybe she would make that a rule, she thought, as she laid back down, and closing her eyes, leaving Casey to think.

"How can you be so sure about all that?" he asked.

She shrugged, eyes still closed. "It's a gift from above." She quipped. Alas, natural sarcasm. She was feeling more like Stokely again. She smiled, pleased with herself.

"Jesus Christ, why can't he just leave us alone?" Casey snapped back.

"What?" she turned her head to see someone walk through the gate leading into the football field.

"Zeke," Casey said. "Have you noticed that he's been showing up here a lot lately?"

Yes, she noticed. So what?

"He never used to come here," he pointed out. "Only since you started coming."

That was interesting. Why was that? It was sort of cool. She liked Zeke. She had never really talked to him until the whole alien thing. She was glad she knew him now, though.

She felt different again. She wasn't Stokely anymore. Easy come, easy go. Who was this freaky person taking over her mind? And were they good or bad?

But Zeke had been showing up there a lot. At least every day for about two weeks. Or so Casey said. But that's when she started coming to hang out with Casey. It seemed that he was going for her. But that was impossible. That was Zeke, the ladies man, who had almost every slut in town crawling all over him. But what if he was? Did she care?

Today was super fucked up. And she kept thinking the word 'maybe.' She hated that word now. Suddenly, she smelled cigarette smoke. Casey didn't smoke. She opened her eyes to see Casey gone, and Zeke in his place. He smiled when she looked at him.

"Hey Stokely."


	3. Bang, bang

**Thanks for reviewing! Sorry it took so long. School_, and_ killer writers block!1 It sucked so bad! lol**

Disclaimer- I own nothing

**Chapter 3**

Stokley sat up. "What do you want?"

Zeke took another puff of his cigarette, and then flicked it in between the bleachers. "Just wanna talk. It's not a crime y'know."

"Why do you keep coming around here all the time, now?"

Zeke looked her. "What? I can't talk to you anymore?"

"You never wanted to before." she snapped.

Zeke grinned. _"Now why did he do that?" _she wondered. She didn't mind. In fact she found herselrf smiling back at him.All this was so confusing to her. Casy, Stna, now Zeke. Why was everybody acting so freak-o latley? Or maybe they weren't the ones acting freak-o. Maybe it was just her. Before she knew it, she was speaking again.

"So if you want to talk, then start talking."

"Sounds fair." he replied cooly. "I just wanted to uhh... know more about you and Stan."

"Zeke, I told you everything the other day. What more do you want to know?"

"Anything that's left."

Stokley paused. "But there is nothing left."

"Oh come on, there has to be."

"Why do want to know everything so badly?" she demanded.

"I just wanna know. I'm supposed to know everything that goes on at this school."

"Oh really?"

"Yea."

"Well, you gotta loose you gotta let go of that sometime and graduate. Now fuck off."

He looked at her and grinned again. That sexy Zekey-boy grin. _"Oh shit"_ she thought. She looked down, making sure e didn't see her blush. For a moment, she pondered why she thought Zeke was sexy in the first place. But really, can you blame the girl? She looked up and he still there, staring at her. She had to get rid of him. And fast

"What is your problem?" she asked.

"My problem?"

"Yes."

He shrugged. "No problem here."

"Fantastic. Now will you please, just go away?"

He scoffed and looked her. His expression wasn't angry, or pissy... but strangley playful, and endearing. "Whatever you say." he said quietly. He stood up and walked down the bleachers, giving her one last glance before he headed off the field.

"Ugh!" She cried out as soon as he was out of sight, and she layed back down on the step, and gazed up at the gray sky. She closed her eyes and started banging her head ther head against the metal. "What," bang, "the fuck," bang, "is," bang, "the matter with me!" bang, bang, bang! As soon as the banging of the head ceased, she felt cool, tiny little water droplets fall of her face. At first lightly, then heavier and heavier. She opened her eyes. Rain. And lots of it. "You've got to be shitting me," she whispered, as she stood up and ran down the bleachers and off the field.

**Viola! A short chapter, I know, but at least it's something! There should be another chapter by the weekend. Read and review please! I'm begging you!**


	4. A Need For New Ports

Thanks a bunch for reviewing SuperSixOne! You rock! You're my only reviewer, and I was starting to get lonley...tear...thanks again!

Disclaimer- I own nothing...yadda, yadda, yadda...go away!

**Chapter 4**

Monday...

Stokley sat in Mr. Tate's class, watching the clock, waiting for the lunch bell to ring. She had already listened to Tate's historical ramblings for that last forty-five minutes. She wasn't sure if she could take another six minutes or not. She needed a cigarette. Badly. She was all out. For once she was hoping Zeke would stop by, just in case he had those sweet New Ports in his pocket.

_Brrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnngggg!_

"It's about fucking time." she mumbled under her breath. She pushed her way out of the class and made her way towards her locker. She twisted her combonation into her lock and banged the door twice and it swung open. "Piece of shit school." she mumbled again. She shoved in her history book and pulled out her English Lit. one.

"Hey Stokes!"

She gasped, almost yelpping, and dropped her book on the ground. She looked behind her as she bent down to pick it back up. It was Casey. "Jesus Christ, Case."

"Oh. Sorry. So what's up?"

"Not much. As usual. Anything with you?"

"Not really."

She gave him a nod in response as she stowed her book away in her bag. "So. You ready to go out to the field?" he asked earnestly. She thought about it and she closed her locker. She didn't ave any where else to go. Why would he ask? "Yea, I'm ready."

"Cool," he said.

"You seem happy today. Did your dad die or something?" She knew it was a cruel comment, but she also knew the relashonship Casey had with his father, and she knew he wouldn't mind. He actually chuckled in amusement.

"Naw." he said smirking. "But they are away for the week. And the weekend."

"Sweet deal." she said. As they walked out of the building, she almost swore she saw a piece of plaster fall from the ceiling, and smiled to herself. It was October, and graduation was at the end of May. She decided six months wasn't close enough.

"Yea," Casey said, continuing the conversation. You wanna come over Friday night? To hang out?"

"Sure." It wouldn't be the first time she'd gone to his house while his parents were away. She actually enjoyed it. They rented bad movies, and complained about how much they hated Antonio Bendares, while they ate popcorn and raided the liquor cabinet.

"Cool. What do you wanna rent?"

"I could see 'American Werewolf in London' again," she stated.

"Yea, classic."

They walked through the squeaky gate to the field and ran to the bleachers trying not to get hit by the sprinklers. They took their usual seats at the very top of the bleachers, Casey sitting up, eating his lunch, Stokley laying down a step below him. She rested her head against her back pack, thankful that they could escape like this, for however short a time it was. High school was a bitch, and everybody knew it.

"So, is Zeke here today?" Stokley asked before she could stop herself.

"I don't know" Casey replied. "I haven't seen him. Why?"

"Cuz I really need a cigarette. Tate got on my last nerves today."

"Huh." he said, sipping the fruit punch out of the box. "Haven't seen him." he repeated.

"Damn."

They sat in silence for a second as Stokley thought about Zeke. There was something about Zeke that suddenly interested her. She wasnt sure what it was, but... it was kinda funny. She remembered one Saturday afternoon, as the music store down town, she heard a group of girls laughing. She'd looked up and saw one of them explaining her wild night with Zeke Tyler to her friends. Stokley had thought it was funny at the time, but now she was taking it into consideration. What _was_ Zeke Tyler like in bed? Because whatever he did, nobody she'd ever heard of had _ever_ complained. Then she wonderd if he ever had a secret thing with Delilah. It could be possible. He was the school's play boy, and let's face it here, she was the school slut. Anything could be possible when it was a secret. Suddenly she realized something...

"Hey Casey?"

He looked down at her. "What?"

"Have you seen Delilah latley?"

For a second she though time froze, because Casey seemed to stop moving. And breathing.

"Casey?" No answer. Just a blank stare. "Casey?"

He finally started moving again. Which was good, because she was starting to get freaked out. "Uhh, no. I haven't seen her."

"Are you ok?"

"Yea, I'm fine."

"Is everything alright? Cuz you seemed a little---"

"No, no. I'm fine, really."

Yea, he was a really bad liar. Whatever it was she figured she'd be able to dig it up Friday night when he was drunk. It was an evil plan, she knew it would work. When Casey was drunk, he basically assumed everyone was a priest, and he confessed everything. She smiled at the thought of what else he might fess up to. She tried not to laugh as she remembered the time Casey told her about when his parents walked in on him, "doin the nasty thing," as he unintentionally called it. Suddenly her memory vanished as soon as Casey started talking again.

"Today's your lucky day, Stokes."

She was confused. "Why is that?"

"Cuz here comes Zeke," he said. She looked over and saw him, then she sat up and watched him walk over. "And he's smoking." he finished up.

Oh praise the Lord! Stokley thought. He jogged up the bleachers and sat down a step from Stokley. "Oh, Zeke, you're a God!" she said grinning.

He looked at Casey confused. "She's in dire need of a cigarette," Casey explain sarcastically. "It's a life or death situation."

Zeke raised his eye brows and stuffed a hand into his pocket. "Alright, smoke it up." he said throwing the pack at her. She smiled with glee as she lit it. Then she realized they were both staring at her. She was baffled by her own behavior. Now Zeke probably thought she was some kind of cigarette fiend, that she lived to smoke. But at the moment she didn't care.

"So how've you guys been?" Zeke asked. That was a weird question for him.

"Fine." Casey replied.

"Stokley?" Zeke further nquired.

She fell back against the bleacher, with the cigarette in her hand. "Just dandy," she replied.


	5. Blue Moon

Thanks a bunch again SuperSixOne!1 Yea... last night I spent a few hours on the last chapter and this one, but I couldn't finish it and I got tired. lol. But here you go, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer- I don't anything and because of it the world sucks. Because if I owned Josh Hartnet...ooohh, just think of the possibilities!

**Chapter 5**

Friday Night...

"I still don't understand why David Naughton had to be naked for this whole scene," Stokley pointed out. It was Friday night at Casey's. With 'American Werewolf in London,' just as she had suggested. Stokley decided this would be a very promising night to dig up some Delilah dirt.

"I know." Casey agreed.

"Yea. I mean his clothes just could've stretched and ripped like The Incredible Hulk, but no, this guy had to do a scene naked."

"That's gotta suck."

"Yea. Would really wanna have to be ass-naked while a bunch of people sat and filmed you? And then a million more people saw it in a thearter?"

"Or at home, drinking tequila."

Stokley smiled, licking the salt off her hand and not taking her eyes off the screen. "Or that." she said as she guzzled the shot of tequila.

By the time that the disgustingly realistic, decomposing Jack visited David at the porno thearter, Stokley had forced a screw driver down Casey's throat. Well...not _forced_, but her evil plan was working either way you looked at it. And Casey was getting drunk.

"I still can't believe that he dies in the end of the movie," Casey stated in bewilderment. "I mean, right when you see that... it's like..." he snorted, "There goes the sequel."

"Hmmm," Stokley remained silent while waiting for Casey to get drunk enough to admit some shit. It took a while.

"Besides... whatever happened to that sexy nurse?" he inquired.

"I dunno Casey." she said sipping her water. One could only drink so much. A fact Casey had yet to learn. As you could plainly see. "Why don't you go and ask her Case?"

"I should. I-I-I should. Somebody's gotta replace David. Do you think I could do that Stokley? Do you think I could replace David? I think I could replace him. Do you think I could?" She didnt say anything. But then Casey sarted growling... causing Stokley to slowly turn her head towards him. "Do you like my David impression Stokley? Grrrr! I'm the America-London Werewolf!" he said. And then he howlied. He really had no pride when he was drunk. She was glad she was the only one there. She wouldn't let him embarass himself like this in front of other people.

Stokley started to chuckle... trying as hard as she could not to laugh, but when Casey broke into the chorus of "Blue Moon," she couldn't contain herself even longer, and she busted out in laughter. Hell, she even joined him for a verse or two. Then they both started to laugh uncontrolably, long after to movie ended. When they finally calmed down, Stokley cleaned up the living room while he settled himself on the couch. God knows he'd forget to clean up the house with the hangover he'd have the next morning. She picked up all the glasses, placed the salt back on the kitchen table and threw the remains on the lime slices away.

When she went back into the living room, Casey was waiting for her.

"Can I ask you a question Casey?" she asked as she sat next to him on the couch.

"Sure," he said picking the cotton out of a ripped pillow.

"Do you know why Delilah hasn't been around latley?" He didn't say anything. His eyes looked a little hazey, too. "Casey?"

"I don't know where she is." he said.

"You don't?"

"Me and her were still friends after we broke up."

"But I thought you guys were pissed at each other. Didn't you catch her cheating?"

"I...I..."

"Casey? You can tell me."

"I lied."

"You lied? Wha--? Why?"

"She never cheated on me. She loved me."

"She didn't? Then why did you guys break up?"

"She knew everybody made fun of us for dating. She didn't care, she really didn't. She just didn't want anything to happen to me. We tried to just keep it a secret, but everyone still knew. She we broke up, but we were still friends. She said we could start dating again as soon as school ended."

"But what happened? Where is she?"

"I don't know where she is!" Casey said firmly. "But wherever she is, it's not in Ohio. I tried to call her house, and she's not there. I went there once. She doesn't live there anymore. She's gone."

"I'm sorry Casey. But you guys were still dating over the summer right?"

"Yes."

"And when did she stop coming to school?"

"Late last month."

Stokley thought a moment. This was weird. If Casey was telling the truth, and Delilah really did love him, then why did she break up with him and mysterioulsy disappear? And then were still going pretty strong over the summer...and it's October so that would have been...six months or so... and...

Suddenly Stokley somehow figured it out.

"Casey, um..." oh shit, how do you ask this question to someone? "Uh, Casey d-did..." She tried to think of a way she could ask the question delicatley. Oh hell, he was drunk what would he care? "Casey did you and Delilah ever have sex?"

She saw a sad smile appear across Casey's face. "Yes." he whispered.

Stokley's eyes widened. "W-When, would you say... was your first time?" she felt so awkward asking _Casey_ these questions. It was just weird.

He thought for a minute. "I think it was around sometime in May."

Ohhh shit. She was pretty sure she'd figured it out. Delilah was probably pregnant somewhere, and Casey has no idea. It was almost heart breaking. And at the same time, creepy to think of Delilah pregnant. She shook the thought out of her head and looked at Casey.

"Why do you ask anyway?"

"N-no reason. Just wondering."

He yawned. "Ok." he replied, as he got more comfortable, snuggling up against the side of the couch. Stokley got up.

"I'll be right back." she said.

"Thanks for the warning."

She smiled. "Cocky little bastard," she mumbled punching his arm as she drifted buy. She pulled her brand new pack of New Ports out of her bag and went outside. She knew that if Casey's mom smelled the slightest scent of smoke, she'd probably get him drug tested or something. She stood out of the front porch, lighting her cigarette. She took a puff and then sat down on the railing as she took in the chilly October evening. It was 11:30. She looked around at the quiet neighborhood but the silence was broken when a noisy car pulled up in the drive way and turned of it's head lights. She almost panicked, but then noticed that it was Zeke's shiny black and red GTO. Why would Zeke be _here_? she thought as she watched him get out of the car and slowly walk up the steps to the porch. He walked across the creaky floor boards and took a seat next to her.

"Hey." he said, almost silently as he looked at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I uhh... I went to your house looking for you, but your mom said you were over here."

"You spoke to my mother?" she said, baffled.

"Yea. Nice lady." he said sarcastically. Stokley scoffed.

"Why were you looking for me?"

He shrugged. "I just wanted to see you." he snuck a peek at her, then almost as quickly, he looked away. "Where's Casey?"

"He's a little drunk. I think he's probably asleep by now."

"Why're you out here? It getting pretty cold."

"His dad'll kick his ass if he smells smoke in there. I don't wanna do that to him."

"I see." Zeke replied.

"You want one?" she offered.

"No. No thanks. Just had one."

"Oh." It was silent again. Stokley felt awkward sitting next to Zeke in the dark. She yawned, giving Zeke an opportunity to speak again.

"Hey, do you want me to drive you home? It's getting late."

She looked at him, surprised. "No, no, I can't leave Casey alone. I'll leave in maybe an hour or two, when Casey's officially dead asleep."

Zeke grinned. "Well, uhh... I could hang out here with you until you wanna leave. Or--"

"Why are you doing this to me?" she interupted.

He looked at her, confused. "Doing what?"

"You never used to wanna spend time with me before. Why do you want to _now_?"

Zeke, trying to find an answer, looked like he hadn't thought of one in advance. "I... I don't... I just wanna know you better, I guess. It's not a crime."

"I know it's not a _crime_, but, I dunno it just seemed weird I guess."

Mooooore silence. Stokley put out her cigarette and stood up. Zeke did the same. "I'm gonna go check on Casey..." she began.

"Well what are you gonna do here by yourself?"

"I'll find something to do," she said trying to get rid of him. "You can go home, y'know. I'll be fine, I'll just walk home in a little while."

Zeke just shrugged. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight her on this one. This time anyway. He concocting a plan in the devious, sexy little head of his. "Alirght," he said. "I'll see you Monday, I guess."

Stokley watched him walk off the porch and get into his car. He turned the head lights on, almost blinding her. She looked away as he turned them back off, then she looked inside and saw him grinning. "Ass hole." she whisprered. Then some how find herself smiling. She waved to him, and went inside.


	6. Wake Up Call

**A/N: Hey there SuperSixOne! Sorry, but I'm warning you in advance that this shapter is extremely short. I just like to post new chapters, I love reviews! Even though I barley get any...lol..._anyways_, this chapter is sort of a bridge between the last chapter and the next chapter, (Although I have no idea what the next chapter is gonna be about yet, lol) so that's why this one is o so short. So, I'll stop talking now, enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I'm startin to get sick of these things, so just see the previous chapters.

**Chapter 6**

Saturday Morning...

"Stokley? Stokley... Stokley are you still asleep?"

Stokley moaned and rolled over in her bed to see her pink-faced mother standing over her bed. "Not any more," she mumbled, flashing a sarcastic smile.

"Well Jesus! Get up! It's almost twelve!"

"So?" she asked, burrying her face back into the pillow.

"So? Get you ass up, someone's on the phone for you."

"Fine," she said, as she snatched the phone out of her mother's hand. She put it up to her ear and gave her mother a look, basically saying, "Ok, you can go away now," but she didn't. When her mother started to wonder why her daughter hadn't even said hello yet, she got the message and gave a heavy sigh and left the room. She slammed to door, making Stokley wince.

She just rolled her eyes and sighed. "Hello?" she finally answered.

"Hey Stokes"

It was Casey. Thank God. She had been a little worried about him. The night before, she looked after him for a while after Zeke had left. She cleaned up for him more, rewound the tape, (the video store didn't have "American Werewolf in London" in DVD,) and she stayed with Casey, sitting on the floor next to the couch until he fell asleep. She left him a note telling him to call her the next day, and took the spare key out from under the flower pot from outside and locked up when she left.

She sighed again. "Hey Casey. You ok?"

"Oh yea, pretty much still in one piece. 'Scept I have the worst hangover of my life right now."

She laughed. "You were pretty funny last night though. I'd sy it was worth it."

"Oh, shit. I didn't say anything embarrassing last night, did I?"

She hesitated for just a second, wondering if she should tell him about he said said about Delilah, and about what she had uncovered. "No," she finally said.

She heard him sigh. "Oh good." He started to laugh. "But please, I'm begging you... don't _ever_ make me drink another screw driver, _ever _again!"

She laughed. "Yea, so sorry about that, Case. I guess we're just sticking with bee and tequila then, huh?"

"Good enough for me."

"Great." she thought a mment..."You wanna do something tomorrow?"

"Nah, I can;t. My parents are coming back."

"Oh. Right."

"Yea."

"Ok, well... I guess I'll see you on Monday, then."

"Yep. See you then. Bye."

"Bye. She hung up and layed back down. He was pretty cheerful for being the victim of a major hangover. There was too much crap going on, though. The shit with Stan, with Casey, and now with Zeke. "Too much!" she whimpred, pulling the covers up over her head. "I don't wanna deal with thin, I just wanna sleep!"

_"Stokleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"_

She sighed at the sound of her mother's shrill yelling. She slowly, and reluctantly climbed out of bed, and whispered:

"Son of a bitch."

**Again, sorry it's so short! But I need to think up a good chapter 7 to make up for this one, so it might take a while. So review please!**


	7. Virgin Territory

**A/N: Uhh! _So_ sorry it took me so long for a new chapter! I was away for Thanksgiving, and then I got my finger stuck in a door and I couldn't type, and then I got in a car accident this past Tuesday. : ( But luckily, the accident gave me inspiration after horrible writer's block! But don't worry! No one gets hit by a car in this chapter! Or do they? Dun, dun, dun!**

Chapter 7

Wednesday...

Stokely and Casey sat in the downtown bar, after school, reminiscing about Friday night. Sure, it was a _bar_, but no one cared that they were there, as long as they don't try to drink. Casey told his parents they were going to be at Starbucks. He was learning to lie very well. Stokely was a good teacher. Because there was no way that either of them would _ever, _be caught dead at a Starbucks.

"I think it's safe to say that werewolf movies bring out the beast in you Casey." Stokely said grinning.

"Honestly Stokely, was I really that bad?"

"Mmmm, nom not really. But you did start singing."

"Oh yea," he said, with an embarrassed smile. "Remind me how it went again?"

"For the last fucking time, Casey, I'm never singing again!" Casey started to laugh. "For the rest of my life," she finished. "Never!"

Then they both started laughing. Sometimes Stokely thought of Casey as her brother. And that they were both separated at birth. And adopted. There's no way their parents could even be their own, let alone the others.

"Um, so what's up with you and Zeke lately?" Casey asked.

She was surprised. "W-what?"

"You and Zeke. What's up with you guys?"

There really wasn't anything there between them. So she wouldn't be _lying_ to him. There was nothing there. Or _was_ there? "Nothing." she stated simply. Casey looked up at her. He thought she was lying. She could tell. She shrugged, and repeated, "Nothing." she waited, "...why?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Yea. Right."

"I don't know... you guys seem to be getting a little closer."

"Me and_ Zeke_?" she snorted. "Yea right, Case, don't get your hopes up."

He shrugged again. "Sorry. It just... well, I thought maybe there was something between you two now. I mean... he _does_ always come to the field to talk to only you."

"Only me?"

"Yea. Ever notice he talks mostly to you?"

"No."

"Well, he does."

She thought about it for a moment. And thought of a way to ask Casey, with being discreet. "Well... if he was interested in me... would you care?"

"Come on Stokes... Zeke Tyler? Guy's had more playmates than Hugh Hefner."

"Touché." Stokely said smirking. Casey smiles back at her, proud of his dirty and insulting remark.

"Zeke's not for you Stokes."

"What you mean?" she asked cautiously.

"Well... when you really think about it..." he shook his head." No. He's not for you."

"And who is?" she asked sincerely.

"Not Stan, that's for damn sure." Stokely laughed. "But uh... it's no one we know right now. You'll find someone someday."

"Who's to say... I want somebody? Maybe I don't want anybody." Casey cast his eyes down, leaving Stokely with a concerned look on her face, and a question. "But what about you?" she asked quietly.

He looked up at her. "I don't know," he answered solemnly.

"Hmm..." she replied.

It was quiet for a while. Then Stokely got a question she wasn't quite prepared for.

"Hey Stokes, are you still a virgin?"

She nearly dropped her soda on the table. "W-w-what!"

He was laughing so hard he thought he'd piss his pants. In fact, he hadn't laughed this much since he did all that skat for the first time at Zeke's house last year. He sounded like a fucking hyena.

Wow.

Once his hysterical laughter died down…

"Woo," he sighed, and chuckled one last time. "So, um, sorry. You should've seen the look on your face, though!" She didn't say anything tom him. She just look up at him, then looked back down at the table.

"Sorry Stokes. If you don't wanna answer—" She mumbled something he couldn't hear. "What?"

"Can we just get out of here?"

He was confused. "S-sure." She made him nervous sometimes. He didn't want to get her mad.

"Okay." She said, getting up. She dropped her money on the table and walked out, leaving Casey there. She waited outside for him. It was getting cold. Really cold. It was almost November. She went down the alley on the side of the bar, to wait for Casey. She leaned against the brick wall, and lit a cigarette. She tried to warm herself up. It was fricken freezing out there Austin Powers! (ah-thank you, lol) And the ever-blowing wind didn't really help much either. She saw Casey slowly making his way around the corner.

"Look, Stokely… I'm sorry, I—"

"I'm not."

Casey paused. "What?"

"I'm not. I'm not! There you go, Case. I'm not."

"I'm sorry, you know. Didn't mean to get you all…you know."

She smiled a weak smile. "I know. It's ok."

"Yea. I didn't think you were anyway."

"You didn't?"

"No."

She raised her eyebrows. "Hm." She sighed. "Well, I'm cold. How about you?"

He scoffed. "Yea."

"'Kay. Let's go home.

They started to make their way to Stokely's house. Casey figured it would be better if he showed up at home alone. Once they reached Stokely's house, she quickly stowed away the forbidden cigarettes, (which her parents, _totally_ didn't know about!), and headed for the door.

She yawned as she dug in her jacket pockets, searching for her keys. "So I'll see you tomorrow, Casey."

"Yep."

"Don't get in too much trouble tonight man." He laughed. "And if you do… give 'em hell, kid."

He laughed again as she opened up her door. "Bye Stokes."

"Later Case." She was about to shut the door, when…

"Oh,"

She opened the door back up a little more.

"By the way…"

She looked at him, confused, waiting him to finish his sentence.

"I heard you and Zeke outside Friday night."

She stopped dead, wondering how she should respond to that. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Casey simply smiled. "See you tomorrow Stokely."


	8. Out For A Stroll

A/N: Yo! Nope, I didn't get hurt that badly, and thanks so much for your concern. And support. Nobody else cares. lol, but yea, a few things: One, I've noticed that I've spelled 'Stokely' differently in like…every single chapter! I type fast so bear with me. And in reference to chapter 5, in the movie Casey's house doesn't have a porch…but I don't care. It's my story and I can do whatever I please! I've also kind of screwed up with this calendar thing. Like the days of week thing I got going on… I sort of screwed up and just made up days, and I messed up with Halloween and everything. So if this chapter doesn't make sense…. You know why! _And_ sorry Zekey-boy wasn't in the last chapter, but guess what……?

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Chapter 8 

Saturday…

Halloween basically came and went, without Stokely even noticing. Halloween didn't have much of an effect on her anyway. So it was November now. And it was a nice, warm, sunny fall day. So she decided to take a walk. She didn't know where she was going, but she'd walk anyway. Besides, she needed to think about some stuff.

Like Zeke.

There really wasn't much you could say about Zeke. Nothing concerning the two of them, anyway. After Casey had pointed out that Zeke mostly spent time with her, she thought about him more and more. Stokely didn't ask Casey about what he'd heard that night. She just let it go, acting like she'd forgotten, or it didn't matter. But she knew Casey could tell it bothered her. And it sort of did. And she acting like she didn't notice when he'd said it because she had her hands over her ears, going, "La, la, la, la, laaaaaa!"

Then there was the situation with Zeke being the school's bicycle. Every girl's had a ride. But when she thought about it, she figured that it could've just been a lie. Zeke wasn't a bad person. Quite the contrary actually, She wondered why she'd though so badly of him all those years. All of a sudden, her mind drifted farther than she'd wanted it to go… _"I wonder what it'd be like to fuck him…" _As soon as she'd thought it, it was gone. How could she think about something like that! How could she---

"Oooff!"

"Woa,-ho, sorry Stokes. Didn't see you there,"

She looked up. It was Zeke. She looked around. She was on the sidewalk I front of Zeke's house. How had she ended up there?

"Stokely…? You ok?"

She looked up at him again. She was still holding his arm from when she'd bumped into him, and grabbed it. She let go and tried to act casual.

"Yea. I'm fine."

He nodded. "What are you doing around here?"

"I was just, walking. Wasn't really paying attention to where I was going."

"I see" he said, with a small laugh. "Yea, I was just walking down the drive way when you happened to come strolling by."

"Yea. Sorry about that."

"No, it's fine."

Stokely looked around nervously. Considering what she was just thinking about this was a horribly cliché moment. Cliché, and inconvenient. She didn't know what to say. Thank God he started talking again.

"So, um, you wanna come in? Hang out?" he asked. The tone in his voice was interesting. Nervous, and earnest. Like he was hoping she'd say yes, but afraid she'd say no. But since the writer is evil lately…..

"No, I-I can't," Stokely said. "I've been gone a while, I should get home." She cunningly looked at her watch to emphasize her point. A point she didn't have. We all know she didn't have to go home. But she was trying to read the expression on his face. Ultimately, she couldn't. "I'll um," she turned to go," I'll see you around, Ze—"

"Wait!" he said, grabbing her arm, trying to stop her. She looked back at him with a far off looking her eye. A look that begged for him to ask her to stay again. She wanted to stay, let's face it, we'd all wanna stay in a big, empty house with Zeke! She wanted to stay, but there was something that always made her say no. In the mean time… he was still not talking. "Um…" he began, "Are you sure?"

She took a deep breath. "I can't." she said. But her mind was saying, _"Yeesss! Fuck me Zeke!" _Ahem. Not really, but that's what we want her to think, no? Ha, ha, ha! The writer is a total loser. Anyways… she was mad at herself for saying no, but what's done is done. "I'm sorry."

"Oh. Ok, no problem." He stated simply.

She smiled. "Ok. See you later." She started to walk away. Slowly. Wait for it… wait for it…

"Uh, Stokely!" Zeke called

She turned around. "Yes?"

"You want a ride?" he asked her, sticking out his thumb towards his car.

Before she knew it she was nodding. "Ok."

"Great," he whispered to himself. But smiled. He dug a hand into his pockets. "Huh?" he said, digging around. "Ahh, shit. My keys are in the house. I'll be right back." He said, as he ran into the house.

Stokely slowly started walking over to the driveway, then closer to the house, where she took a seat on the steps of the front porch. Zeke offered her a ride. Wow. Uhh… that was cool. Sweet. But her mind was still all jumbled. Like, why she said no to staying, but why was she _mad_ she said no? Did she like Zeke? Was there luuuve in the air? La, la, la, of course there was! But Stokely was in denial. Well, maybe not yet, but she will be soon. Hah, the writer is confusing today. Blahhh… But then she heard the door open, but she didn't look. Zeke just closed the door and then stood behind her. She noticed he didn't lock the door. But of course, _nobody_ locked their doors in Ohio.

"You ready?"

She shook herself out of her dazey thoughts. "Uh-huh." She stood up and looked at him. And then walked away. Because she's awesome like that.

"Uh, ok then. Let's go," Zeke.

She followed him over to his car. She opened the door and let herself in. Nobody locked their cars either. _'But Zeke should,'_ she though, _'It's a pretty sweet car.' _(A/N: Goodness gracious I love that car! Ahem. Not the point. Let's continue!) Zeke got in the car and started the engine. The huge, loud, roaring, _old_ engine scared Stokely, who was in a slight trance, mesmerized by the hot Zeke. I mean, the hot car. (Oopps, honest mistake!)

He started to back out of the driveway, and head down the street. "Well, I guess you know where I love," she said.

He smirked. "Yea."

They drove to Stokely's house in silence. Stokely didn't really know what to say. So it was sort of good she didn't stay at his house. What the hell were they supposed to talk about? They stopped at a red light, and Zeke popped a cigarette in his mouth.

"You want one?" he asked, fishing around his car for a lighter.

Stokely pulled a lighter out of her pocket and lit it for Zeke. "No thanks."

Zeke nodded in thanks for the light, and looked forward. "I'm trying to cut down," Stokely said sarcastically. "Smoking kills you know."

Zeke took a long drag, "Really? I never knew," he said, the smoke escaping from his mouth with every word. Stokely giggled.

Then she got bored and switched on the radio. She flipped through the stations. Past the rap, past the country, past the techno, and past the friggin, god-for-saken religious channels, until she finally got to a station she liked. And the song that was playing was pretty bitchin'.

"Oh! I love this song!" she exclaimed.

Zeke looked down at the radio, then at Stokely, who flashed a smile as soon as he looked at her. "Huh," he said, with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Me too."

Well, it was Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven!' Who doesn't love that song!

"It's a great song," Zeke said, holding his cigarette between his fingers as he drove. "It really makes you think about stuff. Don't know why, but… it does."

"Yea," Stokely agreed. "It does, doesn't it?"

Zeke started to slow down, and he took one last puff of his cigarette and threw it out the window. It was then, Stokely realized that they were on her street. And Zeke was pulling into her driveway just as Robert Plat was ending the song.

"And, she's buyy-ing a stair-way… to heaven." Zeke immediately switched it off afterwards. Like he didn't want the ending to be ruined by the next song that came on. Then he looked at Stokely. Her eyes were closed. She was taking in the ending of the fantabulous song. (tee-hee!)

Zeke waited. "Uh, Stokely?"

Her eyes snapped open as she came out of her daydream. He wasn't trying to rush her out, and she knew that, he just wanted to know what she was doing to say the least.

"Sorry." He just smile. "Ok, well, um… thanks for the ride," she said getting out of the car.

"No problem," he replied… still smiling. "See you Monday."

She nodded and closed the door. "Bye." She walked to her door and went inside, without looking back.

Zeke sighed. "Fuck" he whispered. He looked up, and all he saw was the door closing. Then he pulled out of the driveway, and headed home.


	9. Author's Note

**NEWS FLASH!**

Hello SuperSixOne! I'm sorry to announce that this story might be delayed for a little while. Eee, I know, I'm sorry! See, the problem is, I'm in a wee bit of a pickle and I'm failing math. And it's algebra! I know what you're thinking…. How do you do that! Lol, it is possible! Lol. Sooo. I have a feeling that when my report card comes out, there's gonna be a big fat F on it. And, well, you know moms, I kinda won't be aloud to go online anymore. So I'm taking this opportunity now, to let you know. Don't worry, I'll still be writing, the chapters just won't be posted. And if they are, there will be looooong periods of time between them. I'll most likely be sneaking online, for "homework" lol Okie dokie then, well, again I'm sorry, but I'll have a new chapter as soon as I can.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to point out a little something about the story. See.. this whole idea for this fan-fic just popped into my head one day, and I loved it. So I know how loyal you are to me (thanks!) and I'm so glad you like the story, (thanks!) so I'm just hoping you won't hate me because of the end results.

Warning: The results of this story may end up in crying, kicking screaming, yelling at the computer screen, and/or hating the author forever.

So there you go. I'm also warning you now that this might take a loooong time to end! lol, I didn't think of that when I started, lol. Oh well, thank for you unconditional love and support! (heh heh) Thanks again. I shall return!

Sincerely,

Black Lumina Enchantress

(BLE, woot!)


	10. A Car Means Freedom

**A/N: Whew! It's been a long time! Writers' block is the worst. Especially when I'm on winter break and have all this free time! So yea, let me correct a few mistakes. In chapter eight, when Stokely says to Zeke, "Well I guess you know where I love." Ok, that was totally supposed to say 'live.' Lol, I always re-read before I post but I must've missed that. And when I was talking about Robert Plant, I called him Robert _Plat_, and I was embarrassed cuz it was just sitting like that for so long! So now that that's done, here's the chapter! Enjoy SuperSixOne! And guess what! I totally just figured out how to do divider lines! lol**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

Chapter 9 Tuesday Morning… 

Stokely awoke the buzzing of her alarm clock. Tuesday. Perfect.She had a test that day, and a project due. And she really, really didn't want to go in. As she rolled out of bed, she thought of a way she could get out of it. And nothing was coming to her, which wasn't good. She stumbled into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, and when she couldn't find her comb, running her fingers through her hair had to do.

She went back into her bedroom and slipped out of her pajamas and into her normal school ensemble. She pulled on a black tank top, with a thin black sweater over it, and a pair of jeans. Black. Of course. But I can totally understand why. I love black, don't you? But then… without knowing why… she decided to add some flair! to her outfit. She pulled off her jeans and changed into a simple black skirt. Cut just above the knee. She dug up a pair of old fish net stockings she had, but then stuffed then back in the drawer. They were just too "gothic hooker" for her taste. She rummaged in her closet for her old pair of boots. Above the ankle, but just below the knee. And she even put on a necklace. And ancient black jeweled brooch, on a velvet ribbon that she tied behind her neck. She looked in the mirror to see the result of what she out together without even thinking. And… she looked hot. Well, she wouldn't go right to _hot_… but she thought she looked good.

She ran down stairs and out the door before her mother could see her, and question her outfit. But she didn't just _look_ good, she _felt_ good. Better than she had in a while. And she didn't know why. Despite that fact that she was totally pissed off about the test and the project, but she felt pretty damn good that day.

On her way to school, she got to thinking about Zeke again. But this time, she was paying attention to where she was going, in case she happened to bump into him again. She made her way down the sidewalk, and when she turned off the street where her house was, she heard a car beeping. If someone was beeping at her for wearing a skirt, they were gonna get some major middle finger action directed towards them. She quickly turned around to see the car and who was in it. And lo and behold!

It was Zeke.

Ironic, no?

She stopped and gave him a look that he read as a _"Don't you ever fucking do that again." _ So he slowed down and pulled over to the sidewalk. He rolled down the window, and desperately wanted to comment on Stokely's skirt, but he figured he'd better not. To stay on the safe side.

"You wanna ride?" he asked her.

Stokely wanted to laugh at his persistence. What he was being persistent towards, she didn't know. But she figured, what the hell? So without a word, and walked around the front of the car and let herself in with a simple, "Hi."

"Hey." He replied, and drove on.

"What are you doing around here?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Had to do something thinking. So I took the long way."

"The extra long way?"

He looked at her, his eyes squinting. "Wha--?"

"Zeke, you live in the opposite direction as me. You must've passed the school already just to get here."

Zeke didn't really have an explanation for this. So he said the first thing that popped into his head…. "So?"

Stokely laughed. "Whatever. I just really, really don't wanna go to school today."

"Why not?"

"Test, project due. I have to do both though, I don't wanna fail."

"Yea."

"At least they're all before lunch, though. I get it out of the way in the morning."

All of a sudden the light bulb in Zeke's head tuned on and he grinned to himself. Stokely noticed and looked over at him. "What?"

"Huh?"

"What are you smiling at?"

He kept grinning. "I have an idea."

"Oh yea? Enlighten me."

"Well… just um, just meet me at my car before lunch."

"Before?"

"Yea, don't go to lunch."

"Why not?"

"Just… don't." he said, getting slightly frustrated with her. Why couldn't she just do it without asking so many questions?

"Fine. But it better be good, if I have to miss lunch."

"Don't worry."

He pulled into the school, and parked. They both got out of the car and walked through the doors of Harrington High. Catching looks from everyone. For a number of reasons. Why Stokely and Zeke were together. Why Stokely was all of a sudden a gothic beauty. A babe in black! And also why Zeke looked so happy when he caught people giving him looks, and why he smiled when he looked a Stokely. And the school thought an alien invasion was weird.

The bell rang and Zeke had the run across the school to get to his English Lit. class --- one that he actually enjoyed a lot--- leaving Stokely on her own.

The first half of the day dragged on. Stokely was pretty sure she survived the test, but the shitty project she turned in reflected how much she _didn't_ care. When the bell rang for lunch, instead of heading to the football field, she made her was out to the parking lot.

Zeke was leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette, waiting for her. She walked up to him.

"Ok, so why am I here?"

Zeke took a long drag and playfully blew it in her face. Then he threw the cigarette on the ground and walked around to the other side of the car, "Get in."

"What?"

He looked up at her as he unlocked his door. "Get in."

Stokely smiled with excitement, and laughed at how spontaneous he was all of a sudden. She looked over at him.

"Where are we going?"

"Um…" he thought as he pulled out of the parking lot, then he stopped and looked at her. "I don't know."

She scoffed. "Um, you don't?"

"Nope." She smiled, and he started to laugh. "Where do you wanna go?"

She sighed, thinking of the possibilities. "Anywhere!" A car meant freedom. And she was staring to feel free, for the first time.

Zeke smiled and headed down the street.

They were both so wrapped up in their happiness, and freedom, they forgot that during lunch, they were leaving Casey all alone.

**Ooo! A cliffhanger! Where do Zeke and Stokely actually _go_? Dun, dun, duuuun! I'll have a new chapter as soon as I can! Now go! Shoo! Go and review! Thanks a million!**

**BLE**


	11. Breaking All The Tension

**A/N: Thanks so much for reviewing! I was waiting forever! But guess what! I believe I have good news! I got my report card, and instead of a big fat 'F' I got away with a big fat 'C' instead. Which isn't really grounds for being torn away from the computer. At least not for long. But my mom was really iffy about the whole thing before I got my report card. Lol. Okay, so… I'm trying to think if I have to make any corrections to the previous chapter. I know, aren't my proofreading skills just awesome? Lol, Anyways, I thought I was all cool and stuff when I figured out how to do divider lines and everything, but it turns out that they never showed up. And they screwed up my usual format along with it, thus proving how reliable computers are. Or at least mine. Okay then, I think that's enough catching up, soooo here's the chapter! I think this is what you've been waiting for! Have fuuuun!**

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Chapter 10

Zeke and Stokely were driving along, still wondering where to go. Stokely was still trying to take in the newfound freedom she discovered in Zeke. She turned her head towards him, watching him silently mouth the words to the song playing on the radio, and ever so slightly nodding his head to the beat. He was too wrapped up in the road and the radio to notice she was staring at him. And she was too wrapped up in staring at him to even notice she _was_ staring at him. But then she finally did, acting as if she wasn't staring at his sexiness. Even if he didn't notice she had to prove it to herself.

She peered out the car window, gazing at the leafless trees they passed by. She loved winter. How it always got cold and everything died, making the bare branches look so elegant, swaying in the cold wind. She sighed to herself, causing Zeke to glance her way. She looked away from the window, to find that _he_ was staring at _her_. She cleared her throat, thinking of how to break the silence. You could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Oh, how they are in denial!

"So, um… where are you going?" she asked him.

Zeke looked around at their surroundings, as if he didn't even know where they were. They were downtown.

"When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go…. Downtown!"

Ahem. Wrong thing. _Anyways_…

Yes, they were downtown. "Um… huh."

"What?"

Zeke thought for a second, then changed lanes and turned into a parking lot.

"7-11?" Stokely asked, trying to act as if she didn't know that was coming. Cuz, really, where else were they supposed to go?

He parked the car and killed the engine. He looked at her saying, "Yea, I thought you'd be hungry."

"Ah. Well in that case," she opened up her door and walked into the store. And she walked straight to the slurpee machine, with Zeke following her.

She picked up a cup and pressed the sacred button, letting the Pina Colada slurpee flow into the paper cup. Of course, there was no rum in it, but it would have to do. She placed the plastic cover on top and selected a long pink straw from the bin and began slurping. She turned around and bumped into Zeke, holding two burritos for them.

"Slurpee, eh?" he pointed out. Thank you Captain Obvious.

"Yes. Pina Colada."

"I hope you know you'll have to give me a sip of that right?"

"Over my dead body."

"Well hey, I've got the burritos, and the car. Take your pick."

"Son of a bitch," she laughed, pushing him out of her way, and over to the chip isle. Zeke waited for her at the counter. She came back with a bag of Fujnoins.

He scoffed when he saw her. "Fujnoins and a slushie? What are you, high?"

"Fine, then you won't get any Fujnoins."

"Ooo, oh no!" he said sarcastically. "I'm scared, you're threatening me with Fujnoins,"

"You should be, Fujnoins are the shit."

He laughed at this, taking the bag from her and giving it to the Indian guy behind the counter to pay for it. He looked up over the rims of his glasses at Stokely, who gave him a "Piss off" look, and then he looked to Zeke, who just smiled. The Indian guy handed Zeke his change. But Zeke was too busy watching Stokely already walking out to the car, sucking on her slurpee. He turned back around to the guy. He handed Zeke his change.

"She's a firecracker, that one. Feisty."

Zeke took the nickels and dimes from guy and smiled. "You have no idea." He turned and left the store, walking out to his car. He handed Stokely her burrito, who snatched it from his hand, tearing the wrapper and

"Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ, I'm hungry."

Zeke laughed, and leaned over. "Slurpee." She took the straw out her mouth and pointed the cup in his direction. He leaned over closer to take the straw in his mouth, gazing at her, as he greedily sucked down the cold drink. She stared right back at him, with a look he couldn't quite place. He didn't know if it was bad or not. He stopped drinking, licking his lips and leaning back into his seat, not taking his eyes off her.

When he didn't get a response from her, he raised his eyebrows and sucked his teeth. "So." He looked at her with a questioning look on his face. She unwillingly started laughing. It wasn't hysterical laughing; she just smiled through the straw, and started giggling. Then when she noticed the seriousness of the situation, she felt bad and stopped.

"Sorry." She said. "I just… well, you know… th—I—" she couldn't find her words, she felt like an idiot. Then she started giggling again. "That was just really cute," she said finally. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and popped the straw back into her mouth. It was wicked cold, but she just kept drinking it. She was punishing her mouth for what she said. She opened her eyes and when she saw him looking at her, she snapped them shut again. She figured she could just keep slurping that slushie down forever… but then, she could have killed herself. She drank it all. And on top of that… she had a brain freeze. When she mentally kicked her self in the ass, she sighed and opened her eyes. Zeke was looking at her, looking concerned, and waiting for her to speak.

"Um…" she looked at him really quickly, then looked down at the empty slurpee cup sitting in her lap. "Yea, well…" she shrugged and look at him. "That was…well…" she scoffed. "You're—you're cute. And… I never realized it before. And---" She gave up and shrugged it off. "Thanks for everything."

"Everything? I give you rides and I bought you Fujnoins."

"No that's not what I meant," she said, smiling.

Zeke started laughing, beginning to realize what she really did mean. The he got quiet and smiled at her. "So then…" he looked around, noticing that they were still in the parking lot. "Oh. Maybe we should get out of here," he said, almost in the form of a question.

She looked him and nodded. Then she started laughing again. "Okay, " she said, still laughing. Zeke started laughing too. "Let's go."

-----------------------(My computer's retarded, these are my divider lines!)-----------------

So Zeke and Stokely were driving along… not knowing where they were going… but having fun either way. Well, at least _Stokely _didn't know where they were going. Zeke knew exactly what he was doing, and where he was going. He just wasn't so sure as how to execute it yet. But thanks to Little Miss Stokely, all tension between them had been broken. Okay, maybe not _all_ the tension, but things weren't as awkward as they were, a whole twenty minutes ago.

They were cruising down the road, listening to the radio. It was "All-request Tuesday," which was actually really stupid. No one who actually had access to a radio on a Tuesday requested anything good. But lucky for them, they weren't the only frisky teenagers who were skipping school. Someone who mysteriously sounded like a guy in Stokely's AP English class requested Marilyn Manson's "Tainted Love," leaving Zeke and Stokely to sing along off-key as they drove in circles around Zeke's neighborhood with the windows down. Just to annoy his neighbor's even more than he already did.

After the song ended, Stokely suggested they call and request a song. A bad one, just to piss everyone else off. They felt like being devilish. But before Stokely could call in, she noticed, that they were off the road, pulling into a driveway. The driveway leading into a mighty big-looking house. She was kind of confused, but figured Zeke knew what he was doing.

"Come on," he said, getting out of the car.

Stokely just shrugged it off and followed him. He led her to a side door, rather than the front door. He pulled out his keys, and unlocked the door. Pushing the door opened, he stepped back and looked at her.

"Welcome."

She smiled and walked passed him, and into the house. She looked around at the kitchen surrounding them, walking into the middle of it. Zeke closed the door behind him, and watched her look around. She turned around to see him watching her. And ever so discreetly, following her every move with his eyes. She turned back around the other way, her body moving, but never taking her eyes of off him.

"Your house, I presume," she said, walking around.

He heard her, but he kind of forgot to answer. Delayed reaction. "Uh, yea."

"Hmm."

"Thought we could, uh… hang out here."

She nodded, still looking around the house. She walked across the hallway into a living room. Sunlight flooded through the windows, slightly lighting up the dark room. She noticed how the house was kind of messy. But still pretty clean.

"Where are you parents?" her voice traveling from the living room to the kitchen, where Zeke was still standing. He walked into the room so they didn't have to shout back and forth.

"Um. I'm not so sure, actually."

She looked at him from across the room. "Really?"

"Yea. I don't really… know my dad. At all. And… my mom is off traveling somewhere. Europe, I think."

She nodded again. "Uh-huh." Wow. The house was pretty clean for a teenaged guy living by himself. Not too shabby. He was cleaner than she was.

She hadn't the slightest idea of they were supposed to de there anyway. Neither did Zeke. He had a rough idea of what he_ wanted _to do. But there was a difference between what he _wanted_ to do, and what he actually _could_ do.

Stokely still felt awkward about the fact that Zeke lived here all alone. And he didn't really have many friends at school. Except for her and Casey. She _never_ saw him talking to anyone. Which could also prove Casey's point. Maybe Zeke did have his eye on her. But really. He must be so lonely.

Meanwhile, they were caught in a dead silence. She swayed back and forth, her eyes drifting all around the room.

"Hm." She walked over and plopped herself down on the couch, looking at Zeke. He was calmly leaning against the frame of the doorway, looking straight her too. A slight grin flashing across his face. Then he turned his head the opposite direction, as if looking around.

She clicked her tongue. "So," she said looking to him, waiting for him to tell her what he planned to do with her there.

He shifted his head back towards her and smiled. "So."

She wasn't quite sure what to say. And why did he keep smiling like that? "Are you just gonna stand there?"

He smirked, and left his spot leaning against the wall. He walked over to the couch, sitting next to her, looking at her. "No," he answered.

Stokely sighed." So, what are we gonna do? I mean, you got us out of school. Awesome and everything, but…" _'Hmm, how do I say this?' _"I'm bored," she said innocently.

Zeke chuckled. "Well, what time is it?" he asked, looking at the clock. "Huh. One o'clock already. What do you wanna do?"

She scoffed. "I don't know, I'm asking you."

Zeke laughed. He got up and went into the kitchen and called back to her, saying there was a DVD cabinet in the corner, and to pick some movies. Saying a horror flick marathon was in order. That instantly got her excited. She jumped up to look through his collection. He came back in the room with beer, and waited for Stokely to choose the movies. When she finally picked some and went back and handed them to Zeke.

"Let's go upstairs," he said.

"Why?"

"Bigger TV."

She shrugged and followed him up the stairs. "Okay…"

Once in the upstairs hallway, he opened a random door and led her inside. Flicking on the light, Stokely noticed it was a bedroom. Dun, dun, dun! And the TV was no bigger than the one downstairs. Zeke was such a liar. She thought to point it out, but she just brushed it off, figuring he had his reasons. So he popped in a movie and turned off the lights. For full horror movie effect. Or movie theater make-out effect. Same thing. Right? Since they were in a bedroom, obviously the only place to sit was on the bed. So Stokely took advantage of the opportunity to spread out on the ginormus queen-sized bed. Back home she was still sleeping a twin bed. Her parents were so cheap. Zeke kicked off his shoes and lied down on the bed, getting comfortable.

Stokely looked around at the room. There was a pile of clothes in the middle of the floor. Jeans and t-shirts. And a pair of dirty, old Converse chucks thrown in the corner. A stereo on the dresser, socks poking out the drawers. A CD stand, overflowing, with a pile on top. Wow. This was a no-brainer.

"I'm guessing this is your room," she said to him.

He was still squirming around, trying to find a comfortable position. He stopped and looked at her. "Yea," he chuckled. "How could you tell?"

"Wild guess."

He smiled, and they settled down the watch the movies.

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After watching "Final Destination," and "The Candyman,"--- a movie Zeke didn't even know he had, let alone _seen_--- they decided to close the "The Exorcist." Stokely had never seen it. Zeke called her a poor, deprived child. But after that comment, she wondered which one was really the deprived one. Who saw "The Exorcist" when they were only ten?

So it was now around nine o'clock. And Stokely didn't give a shit if her parents wondered where she was. They probably didn't even notice.

Stokely stretched, and yawned. She had long removed her sweater, lying there in her tank top, Zeke wearing a black wife-beater. Which Stokely was surprised to see. Woo, can we say… hottie? And somewhere in the middle of "Candyman," they scooted under the covers, and "casually cuddled," for the sake of it being a scary movie, of course. Yea. Right.

"Woo, what a great day of movies," she said. She stretched out in the bed. He sat up, leaning against the headboard, as Stokely rested her head against his chest. Ooo! Scandal!

Zeke sighed. "Yea." Stokely could feel his heart beating. Zeke turned off the TV, leaving the room dark. The only light in the room was the street light pouring through the window blinds. He sighed again, his chest rising and falling. Stokely closed her eyes, memorizing the patterns of his breathing, and she sighed herself. She didn't want this moment to end. It was so peaceful; lying there is the dark, where all you could hear was the steadiness of Zeke's breathing.

"Stokely?" he whispered in the darkness.

"Yea?"

No answer. He was silent. She lifted her head and looked up at him, expecting him to be looking away. Well, the best kind of prize is a sur-prise, right? Much to her sur-prise, he was staring straight at her.

She gave him this somewhat, questioning look, waiting for an answer, waiting for him to say something. Anything. But instead of saying anything, he just brought his face closer to hers, and before she knew it, his hand was cupping her cheek, his thumb slowly caressing her jaw. He looked at her with hunger in his eyes. Hopeful hunger. She knew that look. Stan had given her that look once. Only this time it was different. Zeke's expression was softer. And she wanted it more than she'd wanted anything before.

Closing her eyes, she felt Zeke bring his lips to hers.

The kiss was soft, and tender. Not at all what she thought kissing Zeke would be like. It was better. She shifted positions, sitting up, resting one hand on his chest, bringing the other up the hold the back of his neck, running her fingers through his hair. He wrapped his left arm around her, rubbing the small of her back with his hand. His right hand left her face and gripped her shoulder, as the he deepened the kiss. As you can see, there's a lot of moving around going on. She moved her hand to his face, slowly caressing back and forth. She heard him moan softly.

She moved her hands down his back, and tugged on his shirt. She tried to pull it off him, until he gave in, to break the kiss for one second to remove his shirt. Then he instantly wrapped his arms around her, and dove in to kiss her once again.

They slowed down a bit, descending from passionate to tender. Then they both reluctantly broke apart.

Zeke raised his hand, stroking her face. Almost as if he didn't believe she was actually right there in front of him. He was breathing heavily, searching her eyes for what he hoped would be a good reaction to what just happened. That puppy dog look his was giving her practically killed her. He looked so cute, vulnerable. So she went right in and kissed him again. When she pulled away to look at him, he simply grinned. A warm, happy grin that made her smile, too.

Stokely placed her hands on his shoulders, then slid them down onto his bare chest, where she let them linger a moment, feeling the warmth of his body. He smiled at her. He'd wanted that for so long. He sighed with relief and cast his eyes downward. He felt Stokely's hand move under chin, as she lifted his head up to look at her.

He stroked her face once more, before taking her in his arms again, in a tight embrace. She sighed and buried her head against his shoulder. They sat there for several minutes, neither of them saying a word. They didn't have to. They continued to simply hold each other, until Stokely uncontrollably yawned. Zeke chuckled, and understood. He scooted back under the covers, still wearing his jeans, but currently without a shirt, and waited for her to join him.

She slipped off her skirt, and slid under the covers in nothing but her tank top and underwear. Oo! Saucy! She sat up, and looked at Zeke.

He waited for her; his arms open, waiting to hold her. He gestured for her to come. She snuggled up close to him, and let him twine his arms around her. She smiled at him. And he smiled at her. She closed her eyes and settled down to go to sleep.

It was so quiet, and everything was still. Outside a car went by. Then the silence returned. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't know what to think. But it felt so good. And so right.

She moved her head against his chest, and gave a small sigh. "Zeke…" she whispered.

"Shhhh," he answered back. He kissed the top of he head. "Sleep," he said. He closed his eyes. "Just sleep."

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Neither of them went to school the next day.

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**Hey! Woo! Oh my God, this chapter took me forever to write! I wrote the whole part with the kiss, late, late last night. So if it's kinda sloppy and redundant, it's cuz I was sleepy and incoherent. lol. But the ending I finished today during my algebra class. Gee, I wonder why I'm failing…? So anyways… the ending, I liked but it might be confusing. Yea, the next day they didn't go to school, yea. No sex. Nuh-uh. I'm keeping up the suspense that way… hehehehe! Now go and review, tell me how I did! I'm dying to know, SuperSixOne! And it might take a while for the next chapter too. I'm all out of ideas! By the way, I have no idea how to spell 'Funjoins' I was just winging it! lol**

**BLE**


	12. The World Sucks

**A/N: Hey there SuperSixOne! I got that nice warm fuzzy feeling when I saw that you're review came. I hang on your every word! So keep me posted with stuff you like, and stuff you didn't. Although, you're doing a great job! But I'll tell you, writing that last chapter? Yeesh! See, I recently had this slight falling out with the guy that I'd like for like… four months! For four months, we were really, really close, and then… he let me down. Sad face! So I was crying while I was writing that last chapter, lol. But I'm slowly but surely bouncin' back, and I had to get back into "Zeke Mode," lol, sooo… here's the results! I hope you like it! And I'm so sorry I've been away for so long! **

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

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Chapter 11

Thursday Morning…

Wednesday came and went for Zeke and Stokely. It started out by them staying in bed until eleven o'clock. They would wake up separately every once in a while. Zeke woke up first, though. It was around seven o'clock, and the sun was just beginning to rise. The light peaked through the window blinds, casting thin strips of light on to Stokely's sleeping face. As Zeke watched her sleep, he just thought…"Wow." She really was beautiful.

Then Stokely woke up. It was ten o'clock. She turned around and Zeke was gone. She sat up in bed and looked around. He wasn't anywhere in the room. She stopped and listened. She could hear him walking around downstairs. She sighed and smiled to herself as she lied back down and fell asleep again. Zeke joined her again a little while after that, and feel asleep once again himself.

When they both finally woke up and hour later, it was raining. They slowly got up and just sat there for a little while. Then Zeke got up and got dressed, and headed out to get some food for lunch. After he left, Stokely took a shower, realizing she didn't have any clean clothes. So she just got dressed in her clothes from the day before. When Zeke got back, he leant her some of his clothes. Which ended up just being an old Cure T-shirt with Robert Smith's face on it.

So they ate McDonald's in bed, and stayed there the whole day. The rain went on and off, but they didn't care. They simply stayed there talking and laughing all day. It was the most peaceful, stress-free day either of them had had in a long time. It was perfect.

That night, she fell asleep, listening to the rain, while wrapped in Zeke's arms as he slept next to her.

So Thursday morning, Stokely awoke to the sound of an alarm. She lied there, staying still, while Zeke turned around and shut it off. Then he quickly returned to burying his head against her shoulder, and draped his arm across her waist, where it had been greatly missed. Stokely enjoyed the feeling of Zeke there. He made her feel just so… safe.

She turned her head around to face Zeke. She watched him for a moment. Before she realized it, he was slowly opening his eyes, and an angelic smile crept across his features. He lifted his head to kiss her quickly, to which she gave him a smile in return.

"Good morning," he said softly.

Stokely just kept smiling at him. She turned back to face the window. She sighed. The first rays of morning sunlight, were starting to peek through the blinds. Zeke knew that that sigh, was a signal that it was over. For all he cared, they could spend the rest of the week, the year together, even longer, but to her, it was different. She couldn't just skip out on school. As much as she hated it, she knew she couldn't do that. And so did he.

"Zeke…" she whispered. He didn't answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, wanting to fall back asleep. "Zeke?"

She turned around to face him. His eyes were closed. "Come on, Zeke…" He sighed, and opened his eyes. They looked so sad. But Stokely couldn't help but giggle. "We should go back today," she said. "You know we have to, sometime."

He groaned, and threw the blanket up over his face. Stokely laughed as she tried to pry it away, but he wouldn't let her. "You see," he started. He had to talk over Stokely's laughing. "I would prefer… if 'sometime,' was like… not now. In maybe like a week or two," Stokely's laughter died down. "Or something."

She slowly pulled the blanket back, and looked at him. He had this confused look on his face, wondering what he was supposed to do next. Then he kind of noticed the situation at hand. She wasn't even under the covers anymore. She had one leg on each side of him, and was kneeling, hovering over him. A wicked smiled flashed across his face, taking her by surprise. He sat up and grabbed her, making her squeal. They swapped places, and she suddenly realized, that now, she was on the bottom. They laughed together for a few moments, until Zeke claimed her mouth, hungry for another kiss. In an instant, everything washed away, and all Stokely wanted was him.

Zeke moved from her lips, to her jaw, to her neck. She stretched out her neck, leaving more room for him to kiss. Then the voice of reason unwillingly found its way back into Stokely's head.

"Zeke," she said. Again, he wouldn't answer. He was busy at the moment. Please leave your message at the beep. _Beeeep._ "Zeke…" she held up her hand, bringing one to his cheek, and the other to the back of his head, trying to get him to pause for a moment. He stopped kissing her neck and looked up at her. She gave him a sad smile, and he understood.

"Zeke, we have to go back. We can't just disappear from the world."

He scoffed. "Why not? The world sucks. It's full of ass holes all out for our money. Dick heads that just wanna start gay-ass wars. No one would care if we disappeared from it."

Stokely laughed, but he continued as he lied down beside her, smiling.

"I mean really… what's in it for us? We could turn into anti-war hippies and live in a cave. Think about it. We'll be better off without it. It's always bugging us, and fucking us up."

"The world, you mean?"

"Yea."

"Disappear from the world?"

He smiled. "Yea."

"Disappear, and never look back?"

He paused a moment, looking at her, wondering if she was actually considering it. He chuckled. "Yes."

"Sounds great," she said. Before Zeke could cuddle up closer to her, she got up from the bed. "But I don't think it's that easy."

Zeke was silent. She figured he didn't have an answer for her, so she started to leave the room. Before she could walk out, Zeke did answer.

"We could make it easy."

She didn't answer him back. Instead she walked out of the room, and headed for the bathroom.

Zeke sat there for a moment longer. How could they venture back into the world after they had taken such a huge detour, together? Getting up, and out of bed, he kept thinking about the enormity of what was happening. And he knew… that no matter what, things were never going to be the same again.

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**Phew! Short chapter, I know, I'm sorry. I can't believe it took me that long to come up with _this_! lol, Well… I guess I could have made it longer, but it wouldn't have been anything good, and you would've had to wait _even longer_! Besides, I think I have a few ideas on how to start up a new chapter already! Yay! So I hope you liked this chapter, review please! I shall return!**

**BLE**


	13. Let's Play A Game

**A/N: SuperSixOne! Where are you!**

**And… Oh My God! I have more reviewers! I thought it was gonna be just SuperSixOne and me for the whole story! _WOW_!**

**Corlin: Yea, this story line totally just came to me one day. Actually the "perfect ending," as I call it, came to me one day. Then I had to think of a story to actually write. Cuz an ending on its own…kinda doesn't make sense! Lol, I'm so glad you're enjoying the pairing. Sometimes it seems weird even to me…but I don't care, lol. It's a blast to write.**

**Autruwriter: Wowzers! I am so glad you like the story so much! I have had the worst time trying to think of something to start off a new chapter. Well, I haven't really tried to think. That's the problem, I suppose, lol. But here I am with a new chapter for all of you! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

Chapter 12 Monday… 

Well… once Zeke and Stokely got in the car to go to school that day, everything changed. They didn't speak much. But what they did say, was pretty important. Stokely wasn't too sure that Harrington High was ready for Zeke and Stokely being together. The way this conversation was brought up was pretty interesting, actually. Let's have a flashback, shall we?

_(Super-quick flashback to Thursday morning…Zoom-zoom-zoom!)_

Stokely gulped down her glass of orange juice and slammed it down on the table, almost as if it were a shot.

At the sound, Zeke turned his head from staring into the full fridge, and he gave her a cocky grin. "Thirsty?" he asked, sarcastically.

She sighed with relief. She was thirsty. Zeke being there, and the whole thing was going on, the mere thought of it made her mouth dry. "Wish it was coffee, though," she said sadly.

Zeke shrugged. "No time for coffee. But I got more juice."

"No time for coffee?" she questioned.

"Nope. Our morning shenanigans took up time," he said smiling.

I would go zoom-zoom-zoom back in time again, but a flashback within another flashback is far too confusing. So let me just recap.

After Stokely had come back to Zeke's from the bathroom, she found Zeke shirtless, pulling on a fresh pair of jeans. She asked to borrow clothes, but instead got a free make-out session, while her sweater and tank top were removed by Zeke's curious and horny hands. But as his fingers moved to her back to remove her bra, she reminded him that they totally agreed to go back to school today and that was just going in the wrong direction. I mean, there couldn't be more of a difference. Hmm…sex and school?

Why, oh why did they pick school!

So they didn't have time for coffee. So they kind of just got their stuff together and went outside to Zeke's car. So while in Zeke's car… Stokely got to thinking about the concept of, "them." Or, "us," depending on how you looked at it. The problem was that she couldn't quite place what she was feeling about them officially being together. She then realized that she just didn't want to deal with the whole school on their backs, asking her, "What's he really like in bed?" or "I thought you were a lesbian," and the one she hated most was, "You know he's just gonna end up cheating on you."

But even worse than that… was what would Casey say to her?

She then decided that it would be best if she didn't tell him. Or anyone.

"Um, Zeke?"

"Yea?" he asked smoothly.

She thought for a moment. He could take this a million of different ways… she only hoped it was the one she was getting at. She couldn't quite place the words. "Um… what's happening?"

He looked confused, and his eyes squinted. He always did that. She loved it. "What do you mean?"

"Well… once we get to school… how are things gonna go between us?"

"Uh… I don't think I know what you're trying to get at here."

"Okay, um, this whole thing that went on between us these passed few days… what's occurred and everything," …he smiled at this… "Are we… telling people?"

"What?" He glanced at her every second he didn't have to watch the road. "You mean… are we gonna flaunt this, or are we gonna keep it a big, hush-hush secret?"

She was pretty positive he wasn't seeing it her way.

"Er… kinda?" She was scared of what his reaction would be.

"Is there a question in that somewhere?"

"Well, yes. Is this gonna be a big open thing between us and the rest of the world?"

He laughed as if there was only one way to do it. "What other way is there?"

"I've never… had a whole big relationship like this before. And I don't think I'm really ready to deal with all shit that comes with it?"

"What shit?"

"I don't people questioning me, and I don't want people invading our relationship. I don't want people telling me I can't be with you, I don't—." She gave up and looked out the window.

Zeke finally noticed what she was trying to say. Harrington High School was a rough place. It was like a battlefield. Kill, or be killed. She was scared of being killed. He reached over and stroked the back of her neck.

She sighed. "I just want you."

They didn't speak the rest of the way to school. They both sort of agreed that this was something that was to remain a secret. And they went about their day. Casey wasn't even there. Nor was he there on Friday. He came back to school on Monday saying he was out sick anyway. Over the weekend, Stokely had to stay home. She was being forced to stay home by her mother, because she hadn't even been in a hundred-foot radius of home for two days. But there wasn't a moment she didn't think about Zeke.

Which brings us to Monday.

_Zoom-zoom-zoom!_

"So tell me again why you left me alone at lunch on Tuesday?" 

Casey and Stokely quietly sat eating lunch. Well… Casey ate. Stokely smoked. She hadn't even smoked since Tuesday. She didn't smoke at Zeke's. They kinda of forgot to do that. Among other things. And she hadn't even looked at her pack of cigarettes over the weekend.

"Um… I was sick, Case," she said as she flicked the ashes off her cigarette.

"You were sick?"

"Yea."

He totally didn't believe her for some reason. She was hiding something.

"That's weird. Cuz Zeke wasn't here either?"

She pretended to act surprised. "He wasn't?"

"Nope," he said as he munched his Pringles.

"Where was he?"

"I dunno. I haven't seen him since Tuesday morning. Actually, I saw him drive away at lunch. He had some girl with him. I couldn't see who it was though."

She scoffed, like he was with a slut, or something. "Surprise, surprise."

Casey laughed. "Yea, we'll have to ask him about that."

She scoffed again. "You can, I'm not."

"Why not?"

"Cuz I don't give two shits about his love life." Lying was easier than she thought. Maybe it was because she said almost those exact same things about Zeke before, but does it really matter? "He could fuck half the cheerleading squad, I wouldn't care." Okay, that one _was_ a bit much, but she was just acting like it wasn't even Zeke.

Casey smirked. "He probably already has." Ouch. That one hurt her. And it might've been noticeable.

"Who's done what?" Zeke popped out of no where and jumped on the bleacher Casey was sitting on. Stokely tried to hide her embarrassed face. She knew perfectly well that Zeke had heard every word.

"Nothing, nobody." Casey claimed.

"Oh really?" Zeke said coolly, sitting himself down next to Casey, looking at Stokely.

Stokely tried not to look at him. "Yea."

"Well," he said as he blew smoke out of his mouth. "I guess I'll see you bitches later."

Stokely's head shot up at that remark. She was so confused. Was he just insulting her? She insulted him, that's true, but not to his face. Why was he all of a sudden being a dick?

"Whatever. Bye Zeke," Casey replied as he turned back to his lunch.

Zeke started to walk down the bleachers, and he watched Casey out his head down. He turned back to Stokely who was flaming with confusion and anger? He smiled at her and simply winked, as if they were sharing their own private joke.

Stokely looked as if she was going to kill him, which not long after turned into a smile. Only Zeke would think to instantly turn this into a friendly game. Who could insult who the best. He smiled in return and walked away.

Oh, he was good.

Woo! That took absolutely forever to write! I'm sorry I was away for so long, but it's been so hard to think of things to write! School doesn't exactly help either, lol. So keep up the reviews! I'll be back with more soon!

BLE 


	14. Appreciating Life

**A/N: This is weird, I can't just make one big note anymore since I have more than one reviewer to recognize… this rocks! Well, good news, class! I signed up for my classes for next year when I'll be a sophomore. And hopefully I'll get creative writing! Think about it… I could graded for stuff like this! Of course it would be _my own_ writing, with my _original_ ideas and such, which I'm super excited about! Yay! But this time I actually did get an F in math. So it'll definitely take a while between chapters. I have to be a good little student and work extra hard this quarter or my life will disappear as I know it. I'll write as often as I can, but in the mean time, this will have to suffice. And I figured out the calendar thing! So far, it's been 45 days, and according to an actual 2005 calendar (yea, its still '05 in this story!) I'm only three days off! It's supposed to be a Tuesday, but this chapter starts on Friday. So, it's kind inaccurate, but it's close enough for me!**

**SuperSixOne- I don't think I'll go _that_ far as to virtually slap you, lol. I was just getting worried, thinking, "Oh my God! Where's SuperSixOne!" But I'm better now. Thank you so much!**

**Autruwriter- Again, I'm so psyched you like this so much! As for the whole thing between Stokely and Casey… don't worry, you'll find out!**

**AllyKat2108- Heyy, you're awesome! I just love reviews! It's also good to know that I'm not alone when I fail Algebra, lol. We should start a club, heehee!**

**I can't thank you guys enough!**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

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Chapter 13

Friday

One Week Later…

Stokely slowly wandered through the hallways of Harrington High School. School was over. And it was about time, too. She left her Physics class and made her way down to the first floor, where her locker was. When school had started, she picked her locker in a secluded hall way near the back of the school. Not many people had their lockers there, but it was enough to annoy the hell out of Stokely. School was too damn noisy, frankly.

Girls talking about having sex with their boyfriends and guy talking about lacrosse practice ruined her mood. Which probably wasn't very good to begin with. Ever since she skipped those two days of school with Zeke, she was generally in a better mood. She lost her focus easily, but she wasn't as pissy and stand off-ish as she had been.

She found herself thinking of Zeke a lot, actually. Probably she was right to. I mean, you don't just make out with a guy and casually sleep in his bed for two days and call that nothing. They had something. They would sneak kisses in Zeke's car to and from school. Him giving her a ride and gradually become an everyday thing, despite Stokely's protesting at first.

And she would always find herself thinking of him when she was supposed to be taking a Calculus test, or when she was supposed to be listening to Mrs. Franklin drone on about the importance of symbolism in Steinback's work. She was supposed to be doing all those things, but she thought of Zeke instead. Even now as she was standing at her locker, fumbling with the lock, forgetting the combination, until finally she got it open.

Her and Zeke hadn't really been together in almost two weeks. Sure, she saw him every day, and he drove her to and from school… but it wasn't enough. It wasn't the same. And the lack of Zeke in her life was messing with her head.

"Psst! Stokely!"

She jumped.

A chuckle. "Oh. Sorry."

She took a moment to calm down, before she closed the door to her locker. Revealing who had been hiding behind it. Zeke. She looked at him and smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes?"

He grinned, lowering his voice, and shrugging his shoulders. "I have a proposition to make," he said coolly. The slyness of his intentions was creeping out into his voice.

Stokely was intrigued. And also excited. She loved how he was so spontaneous sometimes. Then other times he would sit, thinking hard about something all day before he decided to do it. This certain proposition happen to take all day to properly consider.

Stokely smiled as she began to talk down the hall. Zeke, all smiles, followed closely behind her. "Well, I'm listening."

Zeke took one last second to find the right words. But then remembered something that might be a teeny bit important. "Wait, what's today?"

"Friday."

Phew! For second he thought it might've still been Thursday. Friday was important. The next day was Saturday. Followed by Sunday. Which was good. Very good.

"Ok, cool. So… you wouldn't happen to have any plans for this weekend, would you?" He knew the answer would be no, but he asked anyway. And Stokely knew that too.

She laughed. "No. I don't."

"Good," he said satisfied. "Then everything will go according to plan."

Now Stokely was confused. "What plan?"

Zeke grinned again, looking straight ahead as the walked out of the school and guided her towards the parking lot. "You'll see."

"Oh great,"

Zeke looked down at her and smiled, not realized someone was coming, and they bumped into each other. Not even looking to see who it was, Zeke brushed it off and kept going, uttering a simple, "Oops." Stokely, however, turned around to see Stan glaring at the two of them together. When he noticed Stokely was looking at _him_, he quickly turned and walked away.

She shrugged it off and noticed Zeke scandalously moving his hand to the small of her back, guiding her to his car. She normally would have pushed him away and loudly insulted him in front of everyone in the parking lot, but she decided to put the game on pause for this one time.

As they got in the car, Stokely couldn't stand it anymore. And by the time they had turned out of the school parking lot, she was already pressing him for what he was planning.

"What's going on in that head of yours, Zeke?" she asked him.

He tried to light his cigarette, but the lighter wouldn't work. "Things." His cigarette still wouldn't light. He looked at the lighter, seeing that the fluid was all gone, so he threw in the back seat. "Dammit."

Stokely reached over and plucked the unlit cigarette from between his lips, and placed it back in the pack until they could get their hands on a new lighter.

"Are you gonna elaborate on those 'things'?"

Zeke sarcastically sighed. "Do I _have_ to?"

"Yes. Cuz you know what'll happen if you don't."

"Oh yea?"

"Yea," she said firmly.

"_What_?"

She bit her lip. "Um…" she looked around the car, then at the pack of New Ports in her hand. She held them up. "I'll hold your cigarettes for ransom."

He shrugged. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

_Crap_, she thought. What would be really, super drastic?

"I'll never kiss you again," she challenged.

He held up his hand. "Hey," he looked at her with a serious face. "Now let's not get carried away here." She laughed. "Ok, here's the plan."

"Yea?"

"How about we spend the weekend at my house?"

"Doing what?"

"Whatever you want. The whole weekend."

"The whole weekend?"

"Yep."

"Doing nothing?"

He nodded. "Yep."

She sat, dumbfounded. "It took you all day to think of _that_?"

"Uhh…well…" he stop his useless sputtering and looked at her. "You know what? Let's not go there. What do you say? Yes or no?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Mmm…..yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"All righty then. Let's go have some fun."

"Ok, but this time, I would like to have some clean clothes."

He sighed, "Fine, fine." He turned onto her street, acting frustrated. "You realized this is wasting time right?"

"Hey, do you want me to brush my teeth sometime this weekend?"

Zeke laughed. "Good point."

So after stopping at Stokely's house for weekend at a guy's house necessities, they scooted on to Zeke's house. Stokely loved driving with Zeke. She found a bag of Bugles in the glove compartment. The whole way to Zeke's house, they tried to make whistling noises out the cone-shaped corn chips. That was entertaining.

They got to Zeke's house and slept for a little while. The week had worn them out. They woke up around six o'clock and ordered some Chinese take-out. So they spent the night on the couch watching old movies and eating pork fried rice and Kung pao chicken.

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The morning doves were what woke up Stokely the next morning. She slowly moved around to find that she was lying on her stomach, her head resting on her arms. She distinctly remembered falling asleep on her back. When she tried turn on her side, she found that Zeke had his arm draped across her back, his fingers loosely gripping her waist. She turned her head to face him.

He looked so angelic while he slept. His lips were slightly parted and his hair was all messed up. But he looked so peaceful. Stokely lifted up his arm while she moved to lie on her side, facing him. She accidentally woke him up.

His eyes fluttered open to see Stokely smiling as she settled back down. She let go of his arm as he lifted his hand to her face. He began stroking her face, then down to her neck, then her shoulder, until he finally reached the small of her back, where he pulled her towards him, making them even closer together. The tips of their noses were almost touching. Zeke smiled at her, and she closed her eyes and cuddled up to him, nestling her head against his collarbone.

"I wish I could just stay here forever," she said, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"Me too," he answered back. He sighed, closing his own eyes. "Me too."

Zeke wasn't too sure what was going on with him lately… but he liked it. He never thought he and Stokely would ever be together like this. Until one day, he looked at her and it was all over. He lay there, holding her, as he thought about it.

Ever since she and Stan had broken up, he started to consider her. Even _before_ they had broken up. It seemed to start out as just lust, but then, he felt a need to be around her. That's why he went looking for her that night, when he ended up at Casey's house. And he had been thinking of her, not even noticing she was coming when he bumped into her on the sidewalk that day.

Zeke would go right to calling this "love." He didn't think she would either. But it was something. Something he wanted to hold on to as long as he could.

He opened his eyes, and looked down at her. She had fallen asleep again. Somehow, he could tear his eyes away from her beautiful sleeping face. He thought about how people always avoided her. Years before, when they all started high school, was when she "came out," and ever body _thought_ she was a lesbian. He wondered, why did guys avoid her? Why did they think she was so ugly? Why did _he_ even think she was some outcast no one would ever truly love? But that was a long time ago. Almost a year ago. Before the invasion. He wondered why he never saw any of this about Stokely before.

He finally shook himself out those thoughts, and closed his eyes. Once again, drifting off to sleep.

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They spent Saturday in about the same way as they had spent their other days together. Stokely loved how they spent their days. They were so calm, and relaxing. So out of the ordinary, yet so plain. Not really plain, but simple. Stokely noticed how much she appreciated things now. How when they were watching Jack Finney's 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, she thought about how good it was. How even though it was black and white, and low budget, people took time in making these movies. How they had an actual plot line, instead of blood and gore and weird-o masked psychos who throw you in a room with a saw.

When she'd wake up in the comfort of Zeke's arms, listening to the winter wind blow through the Evergreen trees and the morning doves cooing outside the window. Or how Pop-Tarts seem like the best things you ever tasted, when you hadn't had one since the sixth grade.

How good the sun feels on your face after being trapped inside a school for hours.

Or the way she felt when Zeke looked at her, knowing that she was the reason for making him smile like that.

The feeling of youth she had, running around his yard with him, throwing around crunchy fallen leaves as he chased her. Jumping into the piles he had raked but never bagged up and threw away. She had jumped in the pile of leaves, bringing Zeke down with her. As they crashed down together, he had claimed her mouth in another kiss. They lost track of what was happening, and ending up getting their clothes covered in smudges of wet soil.

They sat on the couch after they their clothes in the wash. They drank Carona with lime slices as their clothes dried.

And one of the best feelings was sliding into crisp, clean sheets after a long, tiring day of goofing around outside. They watched each other in silence until Zeke fell asleep.

All this was also way out of the ordinary for her. It was certainly better than her real home life. She thought about it as she tossed and turned, while Zeke slept peacefully next to her.

She wondered if her parents cared that she was gone. Or if they noticed. She thought about her parents. They were probably arguing about something. Her mother would be in the kitchen, washing dishes as she argued with her father about something. But her father would be in the living room, watching ESPN, not paying attention to her. So her mother would get mad and smash a dish on the floor and scream at him. To which he would grab a beer and walk out of the house. Where he then disappeared for a few days and come back as if everything was fine.

Stokely had lived with it her whole life. Her parents fighting was like comfort to her. Comfort in consistency. But then after a while, it turned from bad to worse, where at least one parent would vanish from the world for a couple days and return and do it all over again. She stopped relying on both her parents when she was at least eight years old.

She wondered over and over again if she should tell Zeke about her life, and why she was the way was. But she quickly dismissed the thought, thinking he might be _too_ protective of her, and something even worse might happen.

She decided not to think about her home life any longer. She didn't have to go back to it for at least another two days. She didn't want to ruin them with overly realistic thoughts. She went to sleep that night, dreaming of the life she wanted someday. Far away from this place, where she didn't have to deal with the demons of her past. Much to her surprise… Zeke was included in those plans for a perfect life. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

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**Phew! That took a while! I wanted to write out the whole weekend, to make a long chapter, but I think this is good enough for now. I want to give you guys a chapter before it takes forever for a new one. So I'll see you guys soon!**

**-BLE**

**Appreciating **


	15. It's Not Easy To Say Goodbye

**A/N: Sorry this took so long! I was in Virginia with my school's band for a competition. We kicked ass by the way…lol. But thirty-six hours on a bus isn't much to spark inspiration! Anyways, here's a new chapter for you guys! And I watched "The Faculty" for the first time in ages! I forgot that Zeke was _repeating_ his senior year, so lets just pretend that in this story, that never happened, lol. Otherwise, repeating it three times? Come on, he's not that stupid!**

**Autruwriter: Yes! I'm so glad you get it! That's what I've been trying to get at! Zeke and Stokely are acting so different because they'll soon be discovering that this how they really are, they just didn't know how to show it before. They just needed one another to show them how to set themselves free. Yes!**

**SuperSixOne: You're slacking over there, and I'm getting lonely!**

**AllyKat2108: Big shout out to you! You're cool!**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

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Chapter 14

Friday

Two weeks later…

Ahh… December. Stokely's favorite month. She didn't know why. She just liked it. It was closer to a new year. She liked that. Besides, November sucked. It was drab and boring, with no good holidays. She and Zeke spent Thanksgiving together. They sat on his living room floor in front of the fireplace. There was a fire going while they ate seafood take out on the rug, and discussed nuclear physics.

Not really. They were both a little buzzed so they were talking about stupid things, like ladders and why penguins can't fly.

Then they fell asleep on the floor.

Another thing, was that December meant Christmas. Which meant Winter Break. Which meant no school. Which was utter awesomeness.

The days dragged on as they got closer and closer to two weeks of freedom. And for some reason, Stokely saw Zeke less and less. He still gave her rides, but she started spending her Friday and Saturday nights with Casey. Which wasn't all that bad. She still loved Casey, he was her best friend. And it was nice spending time with him again.

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So it was Friday, after school. At lunch that day, Casey had asked her to go to his house. She told Zeke that she wanted to walk there. So he just went straight home.

When she got to Casey's house, she noticed his dad's car wasn't there. So she got her key and let herself in. Even if his mom was there, she liked Stokely. His dad didn't. But his mom never told his father that Stokely had her own key.

She went inside, and the house was silent.

"Casey?" She looked around. The house was neat as a pin. As it always was. Was he even there? "Case…?"

She walked upstairs to his room. His door was closed. As it always was. And today, she just didn't feel like knocking. So she opened the door and let herself in. She looked around, noticing a lack of Casey. Among other things.

Casey's room once, cluttered and messy, was clean. With things missing. Delilah's pictures were gone, off his walls. His always-open closet door, revealed an empty closet. All his books and little odds and ends were packed in boxes. There wasn't much in his room, except for little knick-knacks and all the furniture. It looked like someone boring and neat lived there. Not Casey. She stood in the middle of the room, looking around at everything, wondering what was going on.

Casey walked in his room, carrying another box. He saw Stokely and gasped, surprised she was there.

Stokely spun around, letting her backpack slide off her shoulder and onto the floor.

"Shit," Casey whispered. "Um… hey, Stokely."

"Casey…" She gave him a harsh look. "What's going on?"

He stood there, silent., not knowing what to say to her. "Well…"

She was still terrified that it was something really, really bad. "You can sit, if you want to," he said. Good idea. She was probably standing there looking like a dazed dope. So she sat on his bed and waited for him to speak. He put down the empty box he was carrying and sat down next to her, facing her.

"Um…. I'm not sure how to say this," he told her. "I'm leaving."

She looked at him. She didn't believe him. "What?"

"I'm leaving…Stokely."

She wouldn't.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

She couldn't.

"No," was all she said.

He looked at her. Her eyes were filling with tears. "What?"

"No," she said sternly.

"Stokely, I—"

"Why?"

He was confused. "Wha--?"

"Why are you leaving?" she demanded.

He sighed."Delilah's pregnant, Stokely. And I know you know."

So she was right about Delilah. And now Casey was going with her. "What?"

"I know you know. You and me are probably the only ones who do know. Can you keep it that way for us? No one can know." There was silence for a while as Stokely took it all in. Casey waited until it looked like Stokely was able to hear the rest. She looked up at him, wanting to hear more. "Delilah's mom doesn't know where she is or where I'm going. It would be best to keep it that way."

"Oh. Well… am I allowed to know?"

"She's… in Rhode Island, with her grandmother. But we should be leaving after she has the baby."

"You seem to really know what you're doing. How long have you been planning all this?"

"Since she first told me."

"When she tell you?"

"About two months ago." He seemed really calm about all this.

This was all really weird for Stokely to talk about. She was hesitant with every single question. "So, um… when's the baby due?"

"Sometime in late May. Or early June.

"Is it, um… is it a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know. She hasn't told me." Then he smiled. "I want it to be a girl." He said.

That surprised Stokely. Maybe it was because she just couldn't picture Casey as a father. Or maybe it was because she always assumed he'd have a son. So he could make sure he'd never do to his son what his father did to him. But it made sense. A daughter would be good for him. "Really?"

He nodded, still smiling. "Yea." He closed his eyes. "Lila," he whispered.

Stokely squinted. "What?"

Casey opened his eyes. "Lila." He said softly, but confidently.

"Lila?"

He nodded, and smiled. He obviously wasn't embarrassed. Snaps for Casey! "If we have a daughter," he said, "I wanna name her Lila."

He seemed so confident about being a father. And for the first time, he seemed so… adult. A side Stokely had never seen of him before.

"Where are your parents?" she asked him.

"Away, again."

"So they don't know?"

"No. I can't tell them. They'd find me and bring me back. Or they'd find a way to not let me go at all."

"Yea," she agreed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. But I'm leaving tonight."

"How are you getting there?"

"Delilah's coming."

"_Delilah's coming?_"

"Yea, we're leaving as soon as she gets here, though. She should be here soon. She just called a little while ago."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry Stokely"

She only nodded, accepting his apology.

She helped him finish packing, and they brought all the boxes downstairs and left them by the door. Then she sat on the front porch railing, waiting for Delilah. Stokely smoked, as she thought of what to say to him. It's not easy to say good-bye.

Tears began to sting her eyes. She sighed. "I'm really gonna miss you, Case," she said, her voice shaking.

"I'm gonna miss you too."

This was her last chance.

She turned to him, suddenly. "Please don't go, Casey." He looked back at her, his blue eyes wide, and glossy with tears. "Please Casey," she repeated. She swallowed, trying to contain herself as hot tears streamed down her face. "Please. You're all I've got."

Casey sighed, and embraced her. "Stokely," he choked out, through his tears. Stokely sobbed as he held her, and she hugged him back. She was going to miss Casey so much. And she never had the chance to tell him about her Zeke.

"Oh, Casey," she cried. She didn't want him to leave. She needed him there.

"Stokely," he whispered. "I'm not all you've got.

She sniffed, and pulled away, looking at him, questioningly. Her bottom lip slightly quivered. "What?" she asked softly.

"You have Zeke." How did he know? Surly Zeke wouldn't have told him without telling her.

"How did you--?"

He smiled. "Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?" he chuckled.

She smiled at him, and started laughing. She hugged him again, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I—"

"It's okay," he said. "Now we're even."

She smiled at him again. "But how did you figure it out?"

He shrugged. "I didn't, I just sort of… assumed that something was going on with you guys."

She began wiping the tears from her eyes. "You were right." He grinned at her. She looked at him, instantly knowing what he was thinking. Then she gasped. "Ohhhh no, Casey! Don't you dare think that!" He started laughing, and she did too. "No, nothing like _that _has happened, yet, but…" she shrugged innocently.

"I'm happy for you. You deserve happiness. I'm not sure if he deserves you but, then again, I barely know the guy."

She kept smiling at him. "Don't worry about that, Case. But really… his nothing like what you would think he'd be like. Everything I've ever thought about him… has been shot to hell in the past couple of weeks."

"Really?"

"Yea. He's so different. I don't know what changed him."

Little did Stokely know that she was what changed him. Love changed him. And little did Zeke himself know, that he _did_ love her. It's just that neither of them had realized it yet.

Casey watched Stokely light another cigarette. He could tell she was happy. He just hoped it would stay that way for her. She'd been waiting her whole life to be truly happy. And it killed him to know that he was delaying it even more by leaving her. She looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

When he didn't, she did. "Casey, I—"

A car horn beeped. They looked out to the street to see Delilah, sitting the car, waiting for Casey. Casey sighed, and she understood. He got up and went over to the car. She put out her cigarette and watched Casey poke his head in the window to kiss Delilah quickly on the lips., before she walked back in the house. She began bringing his boxes out to the car. Casey followed her back inside.

"Sorry Delilah's not helping. But she can't be seen, or else word'll get around. You understand."

"Yea."

They stuffed the last of his things in the car, and Casey went back in the house to check if he'd forgotten anything. So Stokely took it upon herself to go and talk to Delilah.

She went to the drivers' side and knocked on the window, surprising Delilah inside. She rolled down the window.

"Hi," Stokely said, trying her hardest to be friendly.

Delilah smiled. "Hey, Stokely."

"How's it going?"

She inhaled. "Not bad. A little hectic. I'm just glad to see Casey again. I'm assuming he told you about everything?"

"Yea, he did. Today."

Her eyes grew wide. "He only told you _today_?" she asked.

"Yes."

"He should have told you ages ago."

Now Stokely was surprised. Delilah was actually concerned about her? Wow. She _did_ change.

Stokely shrugged.

Delilah looked away, towards the house. "Hmm." She looked back at Stokely. "So how's Stan doing?"

"I dunno. We broke up a few months ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "Are you seeing anyone else?"

Stokely thought about it. Who would Delilah tell? And Casey would probably tell her anyways. "Um… Zeke, actually."

"Zeke? Really?"

Stokely smiled. "Yea."

Delilah smiled at her. "That's good."

Stokely heard the house door closing. She looked up, and saw Casey jogging over to the car. Stokely looked back down at Delilah in the car. "I'll see you around," she said.

Delilah beamed at her. "Bye, Stokely."

She rolled up her window and walked around to the other side of the car, where Casey stood, waiting for her.

She was beginning to cry again. He hugged her.

"I love you, Casey," she told him.

He sniffed. "I love you too, Stokes." He pulled away from her and opened the car door.

"Good luck, Case," she said, doing her best to hold her smile. He grinned back at her.

"Good-bye Stokely," he said. He got in the car, and looked out the window. And before she knew it, he was gone.

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For at least an hour, she sat on his porch and wept. She couldn't believe it. After all that, he really was gone. And she knew he wasn't coming back. She might hear from him, or even see him again some day. But he wouldn't be coming back to Ohio. And she didn't blame them for it.

It was beginning to get darker and colder by the minute. She had to get home. But she didn't want to go home. She slowly began walking down the porch steps, and she shoved her hands in her pockets to keep them warm. She stopped on the last stair, feeling her key inside her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at it. She sighed as she placed it on the railing and walked down off the porch.

When she reached the sidewalk, she didn't know which way to go. She turned around, to take one last look at Casey's house. She looked up at the second floor. The light in his room was on.

Before she started crying again, she turned and walked to the sidewalk, towards Zeke's house.

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By the time she reached Zeke's house it was completely dark. She went to the side door that led to the kitchen, and knocked.

Zeke was upstairs, when he heard the knock. He raced downstairs, shirtless, and slid across the kitchen floor, halting to a stop as he opened up the door.

Stokely stood there, looking down at her feet.

Zeke chuckled. "You know, maybe I should get you a key made."

She looked up at him. Her eyes were red from crying. Black eyeliner was smeared across her face, and she looked like she was about to start crying again.

"Oh my God," he said quietly. He quickly pulled her inside. "What's wrong?" he asked frantically. He closed the door an and puled her close to him. She was so cold. He took her bag from her and put it on the floor. He stroked her hair, as she began to sob. Her tears were running down his bare chest. "Shh… it's okay. Come on."

He led her to the living room, where he sat her down on the couch. With one arm still around her, warming her up, he began to brush the hair out her face and wipe her tears away.

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

She looked at him, and in a squeaky, barely audible whisper, she told him. "He's gone Zeke. Casey's gone…"

Without a word, he pulled her close again and let her cry. He knew how close they were. He knew that Casey was really the only friend she had. It killed him to see her like this.

He brought her upstairs to bed. She undressed and crawled under the covers, while Zeke went downstairs to lock up the house. She turned off the light and closed her eyes.

Zeke quietly walked in the room, and slid under the covers next to her. He slipped one arm under her pillow, and the other around her.

"Casey left," she whispered to him.

He opened his eyes, only to see the back of her head. "Why?"

She told him all about the whole situation with Delilah. Zeke was surprised to hear that Casey actually had sex, let alone got Delilah pregnant.

"Stokely," Zeke whispered. "He didn't leave you alone."

She sighed. "I know. But it still hurts."

"Yea. You know you'll always have me though," he said.

She smiled to herself. She liked the thought of that. And even thought she would miss Casey, she knew he would okay. He'd always know what to do, if things got bad. So she couldn't worry too much about it.

For now all she could do was live in the moment. Because all that mattered right now… was _right now_.

She began to move around. Zeke wondered what she was doing. Before he knew it, she had turn around and pressed her lips to his. He pulled her on top of him, pressing his fingers into her hips. She kissed him more and more deeply with each passing minute. Would this be it for them? he wondered. He had waited for so long.

She stopped kissing him and looked down at him. He softly caressed her face, and she sighed. She looked him in the eye, and saw what he wanted.

She sat up, and gazed down at him. He wanted _her_. He wanted her _so bad_. She could feel it. He watched as she slowly climbed off of him and laid back down, turning her back on him.

Denied.

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**Woa, I totally just started _and_ finished this chapter in one day. That has not happened in a _loooong_ time! I was so on a roll today! Plus, when you're grounded you have a lot of time on your hands. So I really hope this is a good chapter after so long. So go on and click that review button. You know you want too!**

**BLE**


	16. Oversleeping

**SuperSixOne: Yay! I love seeing that you reviewed! Makes me feel all happy inside! And I'm always glad to hear from my most loyal reviewer!**

**Autruwriter: Haha, thanks, I try! lol. I hope you like this chapter as much as you did that last one! That review made me feel so special! lol**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters**

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Chapter 15

Saturday Morning…

Zeke woke up the next morning, the sun shining in his eyes, blinding him. He looked around his room, squinting, trying his best to block out the sun. Stokely wasn't in bed anymore. He sat up, and raised a hand to his head. He had a headache, and was in desperate need of an aspirin and a cup of coffee.

He sighed, and got out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans. He sat back down on the bed, burying his head in his hands, thinking about the night before. He thought about why Stokely had done that. Did she know how crazy she made him? How she made him feel? Frankly, he didn't get it. He'd never felt this way about a chick before. He didn't know he could feel this. And if he felt this way _now_… what else was he capable of feeling?

Standing up once again, he left the room and went downstairs. He peered into the living room to find it empty, then turned to the kitchen, to see Stokely sitting at the kitchen table, looking out the window. He shuffled in, rubbing his eyes, and sat down across from her.

"Good morning," she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

He rested his elbows on the table and ran his fingers through his messy brown hair. "Morning," he mumbled. He let his arms drop on the table. "When d'you get up?" he asked her.

"'Bout an hour ago," she answered.

"Wait, what time is it?"

She sighed and glanced out the window. "Ten."

"Any coffee left?"

"Yea," she answered, still not looking at him.

He got up and trudged over to the counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He always took his coffee black, whereas Stokely poured cream and sugar into hers, covering up the taste, where it barely even tasted like coffee anymore. By then, he had learned to buy sugar packets and creamer, to keep in the house for her. He opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He must've had at least half a dozen bottles of it all over the house.

He popped three pills in his mouth and joined Stokely at the table once again.

"Headache?" she asked him.

"The worst," he sighed. Now he just didn't know what to say to her. Last night was a little awkward. Maybe it was for her too, but she's not the one who got rejected. Well, technically she didn't _reject_ him since he didn't _ask_ for anything. She led him on, which pissed him off and _really _drove him crazy. Could he forgive her for that?

"I'm sorry about last night," she said to him.

He looked up. "Oh. It's um… it's okay." Easy come, easy go. Looks like he forgave her.

She smiled at him. "Yea. I'm sorry. I kinda… freaked out."

He sighed, and looked at her, confused. "Why would freak out?"

She winced. He could tell she wasn't prepared for him to ask her that. "I… I dunno, I guess I just… wasn't…ready."

"Ready for what?"

She shrugged. "Ready to go beyond what we have here. Plus, the whole thing with Casey kind got me…I started thinking about Casey, and… I didn't really want Casey on my mind during something like that." She looked like she was about to cry. "And… I couldn't get it out of my head." A single tear streamed down her cheek. "I just can't believe he's really gone," she whispered.

Zeke reached across the table and wiped the tear off her face. She smiled, and held his hand, where it remained, resting on her cheek. He knew they were close, but he couldn't do much but be there for her whenever she needed him. He made himself promise that he would be. No matter what.

"It's all right," he told her. "Don't worry about it."

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After talking with Zeke in the kitchen, Stokely went upstairs to his bedroom. She walked over to the window and looked outside. She looked across the street, and saw what she normal saw out Zeke's window. The house next door… a tree or two… the neighbor's dog chained up to a tree… Stan…

Stokely gasped and let out a small cry. He was there. Looking up at her. And she was staring right back at him. He had scared her, being there all of a sudden, but she began to wonder what he was doing there.

Still trying to catch her breath, she looked away from the window. When she looked back, he was gone. Stan was there. She saw him. And he saw her. Maybe he was looking for her. But why would he be looking for her at Zeke's house? How would he know to look there? She decided not to tell Zeke.

Instead she looked around his room quietly. He was in the shower. She spotted a calendar on the wall, and went over to look at it. Christmas was only a few days away. They were on Winter Break and neither of them even knew it. How did they manage that one? No wonder Casey decided to leave then.

She knew she had to get home. She hadn't been home much lately, and since it was Christmas coming up, she thought she should be getting home for a few days. She started to gather up what little things she had with her.

But just as she started picking up her stuff, Zeke walked in. Dripping wet with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh, hey," he said, grinning at her. "Didn't know you were in here."

"Sorry, I was just gathering up my stuff."

He raised an eyebrow. "So soon?"

"Do you know what day it is?"

"Um… Satur…day?" he said, not really understanding the question.

"You should check your calendar more often. It's winter break already. Christmas is in a few days."

He gawked at her. "What?" She smiled at him. "Oh, shit, how did we forget that?" he asked her, laughing.

She shrugged. "Don't know. So if you wouldn't mind, can we leave after you're dressed? I should really be getting home soon."

He gave her a gloomy smile. "Sure," he said, rummaging through his drawers for clean clothes. "No problem, I'll be out in just a minute."

"Thanks."

With that, she left him to dress. He didn't want to let her go so soon. He could understand that she thought it was only right to be with her family on Christmas, but what about him? Christmas was never much of a huge thing for him, but he thought that maybe he wouldn't have to be alone this year. Oh, well.

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Twenty minutes later, they found themselves sitting in the car in front of Stokely's house. She didn't want to leave just yet. And he didn't want her to.

He turned to her. "Do you really have to go?" he asked her.

She sighed. "I should," she said.

"Alright, but you're calling me later tonight, okay?"

She laughed at that. Zeke wasn't a guy you'd call up just to chat with. "I have to call you now?"

"No offense, but what else are you gonna do at home?"

She shrugged. "Good point."

"So call me later. And don't forget. And don't give me any shit, like, you forgot cuz… you were roasting chestnuts on an open fire, none of that." She laughed. "You're calling me." She laughed even harder.

"Ok, I give up, I'll call you."

He grinned. "Thank you," he said cheekily. "Now away with yeh," 

She giggled again. He leaned over the seat to kiss her, and then she got out of the car. He watched her walk inside before he drove away.

But for Stokely, he drove away too soon.

She walked into her house…to find it empty.

Things were missing off the walls; the kitchen cabinets were empty. All the furniture was gone. She looked around, awestruck. She was hallucinating. She knew it. She had to be.

She ran upstairs, to her room. Her room was fine. Just the way it was when she left. Even her cat, Barley, was sitting on her bed. Something wasn't right, she thought. But then she could've smacked herself for thinking that. Or course something wasn't right! Her whole house was empty!

She searched the whole upstairs; her parent's room was empty. The basement had things missing from it. Like the rest of the house, unwanted junk, and trash was left.

_Just like me._ she thought.

They had left her.

Wherever her parents were, they didn't want her there. Her own parents didn't want to be bothered by her. Either that, or they simply forgot her.

She went back to her room, and huddled against a wall, she began to cry… and she stayed there all night.

Zeke stayed up all night too. Waiting around for her call.

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The next morning was Christmas Eve, and Zeke found that he had fallen asleep on the living room couch. She never called. He looked at the clock. It was eight thirty. He thought about it, and then concluded that…"Well, she wouldn't be mad would she?" He decided to go to her house and find out what happened. Maybe he could whisk her away back to his house. If he was lucky.

So he started up to ol' GTO and headed out. It never took him long to get there. He was parked in the street in front of her house in no time. There were no cars in the driveway. Something both he and Stokely didn't bother to notice when he dropped her off. He got out and looked around. He walked up the path to her front door. The wind was blowing hard and fast, causing a huge chill to run through him. He was so surprised it hadn't snowed yet.

He stared at her front door. Something wasn't right. He knocked. And waited. No answer. He knocked again. And waited. No answer. He thought about it for a moment… then he took it upon himself to open up the unlocked door and walk inside.

It was quiet. He was in the front hallway of the house. He looked around. It seemed really empty. Like someone had just moved in.

He looked around. "Hello?" he called out, to anyone who would answer.

He crept along the whole first floor, through the kitchen, the living room, a TV room, littered with empty beer cans and bottles. It looked worse than his garage did, back when he was sixteen, throwing high school parties until four in the morning. That was a phase of his life he did not want to revisit.

Making his way up the stairs, he was always on the look out for anything that could be right around the corner. It was Stokely's house, yea… but there was something odd about it. "Hello?" he called again. He poked his head in various bedrooms. He went into one, which he knew was Stokely's room. It was the only room that looked lived in. He walked in and looked around. He stood next to the bed and looked out the window, at the street.

A cat jumped up on the bed, purring, it rubbed its head up against his hand. He looked down at it there, hungry for attention. He pet the cat on the head and went about glancing around the room. It looked as if she weren't there. So she walked back out into the hallway. Before heading back downstairs, he stood there for a moment. He had this feeling, this little thing that wouldn't let him leave the house. So he walked back into Stokely's room.

He looked around carefully this time, until he saw a black heap in the corner between the bed and the closet, which he had at first taken for a shadow. He looked closely, and it was Stokely. Asleep, curled up into a fetal position on the floor. He rushed over to her, trying to shake her awake.

But as soon as he laid a hand on her, she screamed. "Stokely!" Zeke called to her, trying to calm her. But she resisted him. She squeezed her eyes shut and screamed until she started to cry. Only then did she stop fighting him off to open up her eyes a teeny bit, to see Zeke. He staring back at her, still trying to calm her, with a horribly shocked look on his face.

"Zeke?" she squeaked out.

"Yea," he said, still pretty shaken up by what had just happened. He looked at her, and raised a hand to softly stroke her face. "Yea, it's me."

She looked at him with teary eyes that were red and swollen from crying. "Zeke," she cried. She picked herself up off the floor and threw herself at him. He caught her in a tight embrace. She cried against his chest and he held her tight, never letting her go. He moved his hands around her back, trying to soothe her as best he could.

And so they sat there on the floor, holding each other, forgetting everything. Forgetting they're problems, forgetting the people, forgetting time itself. They were there until they fell asleep. When they woke up, it was dark outside and they couldn't see anything but each others faces, only centimeters apart. The faint, flickering streetlight outside was the only light they had. Then they got in bed and fell asleep again.

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Stokely's cat, Barley, jumped up onto the bed and onto to Zeke, waking him up. Zeke, startled by the cat, quickly turned around. Then the cat, suddenly afraid, leapt off the bed and trotted out of the room. He looked at his watch. Seven o'clock. And it was Christmas.

He leaned back over to Stokely, and whispered in her ear, "Stokely…" When she didn't awake, he tried again. "Stokelyyyy…"

She woke up, suddenly, and turned to face him. "Zeke?" she whispered.

He gazed into her eyes. "Yea."

"What--?" she couldn't remember anything. "What happened?"

"I… came over looking for you, I found you in here, asleep on the floor in the corner. We slept all day," he said, caressing her cheek.

Now she remembered. But she couldn't help but smile at him. "You came over here looking for me?"

He smiled back at her. "You said you'd call. But hey," he said. "It's Christmas."

"It is? Feels like we skipped a few days."

"Well, we kinda did."

She started to giggle again. Once her laughter stop, Zeke remembered something pretty important, and got serious. "So what happened?

Stokely barely wanted to think about, much less _talk_ about. But she had too. For Zeke. "I came home, and… they were gone. I looked around the whole house, everything. Everything was gone."

Zeke though for a minute. "Ohh," 

"They left me," she squeaked out.

Zeke could sympathize with her pretty well, on that note. His parents virtually left him to die. And he almost did once, before he learned to take care of himself. "It's gonna be okay," he said to her. "Screw 'em. You didn't really want them around anyway, did you?"

She thought, "No," she concluded. "I don't."

"You don't need them. You got me."

She beamed at him. Happy that he cared so much about her. Happy at the fact that he knew her so well by now, that he would know if something was wrong. "But where am I gonna go?" she asked him. "I can't stay here."

"How could you ask such a stupid question?" he joked. "You coming home with me."

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They spent Christmas day, moving Stokely out of her house and into Zeke's. She brought everything she could think of to take with her, including her cat. To whom Zeke became very attached to, much to his own surprise.

Zeke and Stokely spent the rest of the afternoon, in the kitchen cooking up their own Christmas dinner. Which really, consisted of them, sitting at the kitchen table, eating rotisserie chicken, and drinking red wine.

It snowed that night.

Later on, close to midnight, they hiked up the stairs to the attic, with a big, warm blanket, and another bottle of wine. They made up a little nest of blankets, and lit some giant votive candles that Stokely brought from her house. Then they snuggled up together in front of the giant attic window that looked out from the front of the house, down onto the street, and watched the snow fall.

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**Oh my stars! This one took me ages to write! I had all the ideas, but I was just too lazy to type! Anyways, this was another sad chapter, but I really hoped you guys liked it. But I'll be making u for the sadness in the next few chapters to come, which will really make you guys happy. Wink, wink! So go and review now, my loyal readers! Until next time…**

**BLE**


	17. These Thoughts

**A/N: Heyy! What the crap! Where is everybody! You guys better review for both chapters now! Just because your lack of reviews made me so sad! And the last chapter, I kind of confused myself on, and I was wondering if it confused any of you guys. So just in case, let me explain that it was over the course of three days. Starting Saturday morning, and ending Monday night. Just to clear that up. Sorry if that caused any confusion, cuz I sure as hell got confused! lol**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapter**

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Chapter 16

Wednesday…

It was Wednesday night. Christmas had passed in a rather interesting way for both Zeke and Stokely. Stokely was still a little upset about the whole, "my parents just left me for dead" thing, but then again, who wouldn't? Zeke tried to comfort her as best he could. Wink, wink! ; )

Nahh. Just kidding. The sexual tension between them was still building up. At an incredible rate, might I add.

Stokely wasn't sure why she kept rejecting Zeke. Frankly, she was actually getting sick of it herself. But nevertheless, she went right on doing it. And she still couldn't figure out why.

And neither could Zeke.

He knew Stokely cared for him. She had to. After what they'd been through? All they'd said? All they'd done? She definitely had to. He just knew it.

Meanwhile, Zeke was getting a little antsy. Then again, so was his dick. He's a guy. What do you expect?

So anyways, it was Wednesday night, and Stokely had made a nest of pillows on Zeke's bed, and curled up with Barley, and a book.

Zeke was taking a shower while she flipped through _White Oleander_, her favorite book. In light of the recent events, she figured Astrid had it worse than she did, and that she couldn't complain too much. She had Zeke. While Astrid had to stay at Mac, when Paul Trout had gotten a new foster home placement.

She had gotten halfway through the events of Rena Grushenka on Ripple Street when Zeke tip-toed through the room, a towel wrapped around his waist, to grab some clothes. With a quick glance at her, he left to dress somewhere else. She closed up her book and waited for him to come back.

When he opened the door, Barley hopped off the bed and slipped out the door, just before he could close it. He slowly laid himself down on the bed next to Stokely. He leaned over to kiss her. It was a small, weak kiss, and she barely looked at him the whole time.

He pulled away and she looked down, solemnly.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

She looked at him briefly, then looked away again. "Yea."

"That was convincing," he retorted.

She grinned at him. "Sorry. It's still a little overwhelming, you know? A lot of shit's gone down in a little amount of time."

"I know," he said. Lifting a hand to brush away the hair from her face, the light bulb in his head went on. Ding! "You wanna go somewhere?"

"Where?" she scoffed, despite her curiosity.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Somewhere."

She scrunched up her nose. "Not really," she said. He smiled, but the glint in his eye faded. "I'm just… tired. I don't really wanna go anywhere. We don't need to go anywhere, do we? We can have a good time staying in, right?"

"Right."

She smiled at him. And then she kissed him.

Zeke was surprised, and reluctant at first. But then he sank right into it. He let go all of his previous thoughts about how much rejection stings. She had kissed him. Maybe she was finally ready. Stokely ran a hand down the center of Zeke's chest, the feeling made his thoughts vanish once again. He focused on the kiss. On her lips, her tongue dancing inside his mouth. Her hands moving everywhere. Her fingers tracing the outline of his jaw line.

Before he knew it she had pulled away. He opened eyes, and found her sitting next to him, she raised her hand to her head, with a look of confusion on her face. Zeke turned to sit on the edge of the bed, ready to stand up. She looked up him.

"Zeke," she whispered, reaching across the bed to rest a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, only to find her face a blur before she tried to kiss him again.

Zeke began to kiss her back. Rationality crept into his thoughts. He knew he would once again be defeated. He knew that this kiss would only end in disappointment. So he stopped it before she could, and suddenly broke the kiss.

"Dammit Stokely," he muttered, keeping his eyes shut tight.

Before she could even _think_ of a reaction, he was up off the bed, and leaving the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

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**Yes, I know it's a short chapter after not updating for so long, but I've some juicy ideas cooking up in my brain for some upcoming events. This another one of those bridge chapters. Kind of. Not really. But I can tell this much, you can get ready for something big! See ya then….**

**BLE**


	18. At Last

**A/N: Thanks for FINALLY reviewing guys! lol, seriously, thanks a lot, I was missing you! Okay, so it's now the end of June, and I'll be going away for all of July, with no computer! So there aren't gonna be any updates for the whole month of July. But I'll try and write for you guys!**

**Yes, Zeke was denied, _again_, but this chapter, which is an immediate follow up, will be a little treat for you guys! I don't wanna give it away, but…**

**WARNING: This chapter contains sex! If ya don't like it, skip it!**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters **

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Chapter 17

Zeke heard the door close behind him as he made his way down the hallway. He quickly trampled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Shuffling around the cabinets, he found of bottle of aspirin, and gulped down four without any water. He knew that no amount of pills or drugs could make _this_ kind of pain go away. But he thought he could try.

He leaned against the counter, hanging his head, waiting for the effects of the pills to kick in. This was taking too long.

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Meanwhile, Stokely was still upstairs. She was trying so hard to understand what she had done. But she couldn't. She didn't know why she kept doing this to Zeke. She didn't know why he had left her so abruptly. All she knew… was that she wanted him.

All she wanted was him.

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Back downstairs, Zeke was still waiting for the numb feeling to set in. He leaned his elbow on the counter, his head in his head. With the other hand, he traced the cap of the bottle of pills with his fingers, debating whether or not to take more.

As he was about the grip the bottle, he heard Stokely coming down the stairs, and waiting in the archway of the kitchen. He quickly slid the bottle behind the coffee maker on the counter, so she couldn't see. He inhaled, and then sighed.

"What do you want?" he mumbled.

Silence. He waited for her to answer. He couldn't see what she was doing. He had his back to her. He still waited. But there was no answer. He can sense her standing behind him.

He slowly stood up straight, and as he turned around to face her, before he knew it, his lips were on hers.

As she kissed him, she brought her hands up gently hold the back of his head, but he had pulled away.

He had a surprised look on his face, and his breathing was a little heavy. "Wha--- what are you doing?" he asked her.

And she gave him this look. This shy look… that when applied at the correct time, could make Zeke's knees a little weak, and his bottom lip quiver. And then she smiled. "Just giving you what you want," she said quietly.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What?" he asked again. Then he sighed, and hung his head in shame. "Stokely…" he whispered. "You don't need to do this if you don't want to." Silence. No response. He looked up at her. "You don't have to do this just for me—"

She lifted a hand to his mouth, to quiet him. And then she smiled.

"I'm doing this for me."

The look on Zeke's face was indecipherable. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. But she kissed him anyway. At first he was reluctant. Kissing her back, but ever so slightly. Before either of them knew it, it was the most intense make-out session either of them had ever experienced. He couldn't keep himself from her any longer.

A flood of all rational thoughts came pouring out of Stokely's head as she threw all of her previous inhibitions to the wind.

They stood there in the middle of the kitchen, completely attached to each other. Zeke hands were softly gripping her lower back, as Stokely had her arms around his neck. He leaned farther and farther into her, now holding on to her tightly as he leaned her back. She felt weightless in his arms.

Her head fell back slowly as he moved from her lips down to her neck. From her neck, to her collarbone. From her collarbone to her chest, ending where the cut of her shirt began. Suddenly, Stokely felt herself being pulled back up, her lips landing hard against Zeke's.

Zeke debated whether or not he should just fuck her right there on the kitchen floor, or take her across the hallway to the living room couch. Instead he did neither, and started walking toward the staircase to bring her up to the bed.

On their way out of the kitchen he leaned Stokely against the archway wall, long enough to pull off her shirt, as quickly as he could, afraid of loosing the feeling of warmth for more than a second. Before he could start moving again, she was trying to tug his shirt up over his head.

After taking off his t-shirt, Stokely brought her hands down his shoulders to his chest. His skin was so hot. She slowly moved her hands around, feeling a hint of strong muscles in his arms, and upper body. Faintly noticeable to the eye, but she could feel them under her hands. She traced the contours of his torso with her fingers. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her, waiting. She slowly brought her hands back up to his shoulders, and looked into his eyes.

This time, when he looked into her eyes, he felt… whole. Like she was all wrapped up in him, and what was happening with them at this moment. She wasn't off in some other place, thinking about something else.

He lifted her face closer to his and began kissing her again. At first, slowly, but that didn't last for long. It became rough, and vehement. Passionate and fervent. There was a tender fury to it. Neither of them had wanted it as badly as they did now.

And in the blink of an eye, he had swiftly lifted her up, and she was wrapping her legs around his waist, hovering above him. He began walking up the stairs, carrying her. He made it to the top, still kissing her frantically He leaned on his bedroom door opening it, then kicking it shut, once inside. It's amazing what you can do while kissing. That's multi-tasking to the max.

The room was dark. The street light outside had burnt out. Leaving the room washed in moonlight.

Zeke slowly laid Stokely down on the bed. She wiggled underneath him as he took off her pants. Then he slid one hand under back, holding her up, while removed her bra with the other hand, still kissing her. It's amazing what one could do while kissing. That's multi-tasking to the max right there!

Stokely's arms were still wrapped around his neck. She let her hands slowly slither down his sweaty chest, down to his pants. Undoing his belt, then sliding them down to his ankles. He kicked them off laughing, then returned his mouth to hers, where it had been greatly missed. She reached down to slip off his boxers. She pushed them as far down as she could without breaking the kiss. Then slipped them completely off with her feet.

His strong hands lightly covered her left breast. He let it linger there for a few moments, sending chills down her spine. Then he slid his hand down her stomach and past her waist, where he traced little circles on her thigh with his fingers. He quickly pulled off her underwear and tossed them across the room, along with the rest of their clothes.

Now they were completely naked, and the fury had faded. Zeke now kissed her more slowly, but not a bit less passionate in the least. He slowed down everything. His lips, his hands, his breath.

Stokely felt his lips leave her mouth and reposition themselves on her neck. She felt them move like butterfly wings down her neck and across her collarbone. And in an instant they were gone. Her eyes snapped open. She saw Zeke's eyes shifting in every direction at once. Like he was thinking about something really hard. She raised a hand to his face, causing him to jump. He looked at her, his eyes rigid.

"No tricks?" he breathed.

At first she was confused. But then she gave a weak smile, and though her panting, she answered him. "No tricks," she promised.

He grinned, slowly lowering his head back down to her. He let his hand glide between her breasts, down her torso. Then he slowly kissed everywhere his hand had just touched, teasing her. She had teased him enough. Now it was his turn. She whimpered in response to the blissful torture.

Before she knew it she could feel Zeke pushing his way inside of her, and his lips were firm on hers in a flash.

Her breath caught in her throat when she felt him begin to slowly move inside of her.

To Stokely, the feeling was just so, delectable, so wonderful, it was like no other feeling she had ever experienced. And to experience it with Zeke… now that was just plain incredible. She felt like she was flying.

To Zeke, this feeling was extraordinary. After wanting her for so long, and being rejected so many times. It was finally happening. And just looking at her face, her eyes closed, her lips pursed into a tiny smile. It was just too much at once. He was afraid he'd be spent early. But he couldn't let that happen…

All of their emotions came together in a cascade of hands, and lips. Moving together, in the harmony they created. Their bodies were slippery with each other's sweat.

They could feel their climax slowly nearing. Zeke decided to prolong for her, as long as could, teasing her with his lips and fingers; slowly pulling out of her, but thrusting right back into her, without completely leaving her.

He couldn't keep this feeling from himself any longer. He started to slowly draw himself back out of her again, but reentered her with one final thrust, letting his climax escape into her.

Stokely's breathing had become heavy and shaky, but soon began to slow down. She moved her hand down Zeke's chest to where their bodies were joined, and she heard a soft moan escape his lips.

And then it was over.

Zeke breathing was still shallow, as he collapsed on top of Stokely, his head buried in her neck.

She could feeling his hot breath on her neck. She could feel his chest rising and falling on top of hers. And she could still feel Zeke slowly shifting inside of her. And she felt safe. There was no way she could ever feel alone again, after experiencing the feeling of his presence within her.

With one last pleasurable groan, he pulled out of her, and rolled over next her, but still staying close. There was no way her could tear himself away from her now. He still had to feel her in any way he could. With a sigh, he took one last look at her and closed his eyes.

She looked over at him. She could see the sweat glistening on his face in the silver light of the moon. She sighed with satisfaction, and whispered…

"Zeke?"

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Yes?" he breathed.

She looked him in the eyes. "Do it again," she murmured. "Please."

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**BLE**


	19. Second Author's Note

Hey guys!!!

Okay, so I've gone for a really, really, really, reeeeeeeaaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy looooooong time. Oops, lol. Well, once school started things got super hectic and there's been family problems arising and and computer problems driving me crazy!!! School stuff, grades, guys, friends. And other not fun stuff. I have been writing for this, but only a little bit. Creative writing has sucked up all my… well, creativity. The class is cool, but not quite what I expected. Anyways, still working on a new chapter, and still waiting for some of you to review for the last one…! Which was a pretty important milestone in the lives of Zeke and Stokely!! Come on people!!! But I digress. I am one to talk when it's November and I haven't updated since JULY!!! Again, oops. But don't worry, I'll post as soon as I can. I thought I owed you guys an explanation for my absence. I hope you all missed me cuz I sure miss you!!! Anyways… new chapter is in the works. I'll finish this story if it's the last thing I ever do!!!!

-Black Lumina Enchantress-


	20. Waking Up To The Past

**YAY! I'm back everyone!! Since it's been such a long time, I suppose there's no use explaing where I've been, lol. But... life sort of interrupted everything. This is sort of a short chapter, but I had to restart somewhere! I hope you guys are still with me!!**

**Disclaimer: I STILL own nothing...**

Chapter 18

Thursday Morning….

Ahh… morning. Stokely slowly opened her eyes, reluctantly pulling herself out of her slumber. God, she hadn't slept that well since…ever. She shifted her eyes around the room, quickly surveying her surroundings; she was in Zeke's room. She closed her eyes again, wrinkling her nose, as she tried to recall how she ended up in Zeke's room. The last thing she remembered was fighting with Zeke. Try to remember…try…try…ha! She quickly smiled and giggled as she finally remembered the events of the previous evening. God, last night was _sooo_ great.

She slowly shifted around in bed, hugging her pillow, then suddenly felt Zeke's arms curling around her. She smiled, eyes still closed, and turned around to face him. Her eyes opened, gently, slowly. She took a good look at the face smiling back at her—Stan. Wha--?! What the--? JESUS! WOA! Oh my God, no, no…

Stokely quickly closed her eyes tightly and opened them back up again; but when she did, she found herself waking up with a jump, sitting straight up in bed, gasping for breath. _Holy shit…what the hell was that??_

As soon as Stokely was up and completely awake, so was Zeke, watching Stokely, trying to comprehend what was going on. He quickly put his hand on his head, trying to get his vision straight…ohhh, he got up wayy too fast. He blinked away his last few winks of sleep, and quickly turned his attention back to Stokely; she was still breathing heavily, clutching the blanket, her eyes still closed tight. Zeke threw his arms around her, trying to calm her down.

"Shhh…Stokely… Stokes, calm down. Calm down, it's okay."

Stokely's breathing slowed down as she finally opened her eyes; this time, she braced herself for who she was going to see this time. It was Zeke. Thank _**God**_! "Oh, Zeke, it's you! _Damn_…" She put her hand to her forehead and looked away from him.

"What's wrong?"

"Uhh…" How was she gonna tell him? "N-Nothing. Weird dream…got a little startled…woa…"

"That's it? Just a dream?" Something wasn't right here…

"Yea," she smiled at him. "I'm fine."

Zeke grinned at her…skeptically. "You sure? You don't wanna tell me about it?"

She shook her head, still smiling. "No."

He shrugged and lied back down. "Okay."

Stokely turned to look out the window for a moment; the same window she saw Stan through. She turned to look back at Zeke, lying back down, his eyes closed. "You're not going back to sleep are you?"

"Why? Am I not allowed?" he replied, without opening an eye.

"Well, it's your choice," she said, bending down to kiss him…that woke him up pretty darn quickly!

He sat up and deeply kissed her back, his large hands resting on the sides of her face and her neck. He began to chuckle, "Okay… I think I'll stay awake." They both laughed together and continued to kiss, playfully and passionately.

Mmm…dirty morning sex.

Yum.

And needless to say… it was amazing. The first time it was, at least.. The second time…eh, mind-numbingly good. And the third time could have caused a volcano to erupt! Ahh…things were finally looking up for Zeke. He was happy with her, and he never wanted things to change for them.

But as for Stokely, things didn't feel right. She knew she was lucky to be with Zeke, and she definitely falling for him; fast and hard. Se was happy with him, yet something was wrong. She had this bad feeling that sometime soon…something was going to happen. But she didn't know what.

**Read and review guys! Pleeeaaaase!!!!!**

**BLE**


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